CELL BIOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE SEMINAR
“Disrupted drug seeking in rodent models of SUD and common comorbidities”
Jacqueline Barker, Ph.D., is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Barker completed her graduate training in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program at Yale University and her postdoctoral training in the Department of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina, focusing on neurocognitive function and substance use disorders. Her lab investigates the neural circuits and molecular substrates regulating behavioral and cognitive flexibility and their dysregulation in disease states. To accomplish this, her work combines circuit- and cell-type specific approaches with novel pharmacological tools and animal models to assess acquired impairments following chronic drug and alcohol exposure. Her research is currently funded by NIAAA and NIDA and has been recognized by a number of awards, including the NIAAA Young Investigator Award (2020), the Drexel University Provost’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Productivity (2022), and the EDULedger Emerging Scholar Award (2026). Dr. Barker is also the founding Director of the Mentorship for Outstanding Trainee Outcomes in Research, focused on supporting established mentorship teams in attaining key benchmarks for trainees, including publication and attaining extramural funding. Trainees from her research group have received recognition of their work in multiple venues, including the receipt of NIAAA and NIDA fellowships and research and travel awards from relevant research societies, and she is particularly proud of the recognition of her mentorship by the Drexel Early Career Mentoring Award for Basic Sciences.
Abstract: Substance use disorder (SUD) frequently co-occurs with comorbid conditions such as chronic pain or infection, however preclinical models typically investigate SUD in isolation. Our lab believes that developing complex models will yield greater insight into underlying mechanisms with implication for therapeutic development. This talk will describe aberrant cocaine-seeking behavior in dual mouse models of co-occurring cocaine use and HIV infection (EcoHIV infection of wild-type mice and HIV-1 infection of humanized mice). In particular, we identify increased resistance to extinction of cocaine seeking and elevated reinstatement. In addition, it will describe nucleus accumbens neuroimmune alterations and characterize astrocyte morphological consequences of infection. Finally, it will include data on the ability of a promising pharmacological target, troriluzole, to suppress reinstatement in control populations, with mitigated efficacy in the context of HIV.
Jacqueline Barke, PhD
Associate Professor
Pharmacology and Physiology
Drexel University College of Medicine
Email:
Lab website
RUTGERS–NEW BRUNSWICK
School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience