Dr. Stephen Boehm
Associate Professor
Office: LD 126 D
Phone: (317) 274-6927
Email: slboehm@iupui.edu
Postdoctoral, University of Texas at Austin, 2002-2005. Behavioral and Molecular Pharmacology.
Ph.D., Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, 1996-2002. Behavioral Neuroscience.
B. A., University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, 1990-1996. Psychology.
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Current Research Interests:
Work in my lab seeks to understand how developmental and genetic factors influence loss of control over alcohol intake, or binge drinking. Alcohol-related behaviors thought to influence propensity to engage in binge-like alcohol drinking in mice are studied. We use mice of different developmental and genetic backgrounds to ask mechanistic questions about the complex relationships between brain and behavior. For example, we compare different genetic mouse models to assess age-specific sensitivity to alcohol's behavioral actions and determine how alcohol exposure during prenatal and early postnatal development influences that of adulthood. Moreover, we employ state-of-the-art techniques to study the relationships between brain and behavioral sensitivity to alcohol in mice, including site-specific microinjection into discrete brain regions and real-time PCR analysis of relative mRNA expression across brain structures to determine which neurotransmitter systems and brain structures are important modulators of alcohol-related behavior. Our hope is that such work will help elucidate the behavioral/brain mechanisms associated with alcohol behavioral sensitivity in humans and provide further insight into how those mechanisms influence (and are influenced by) binge alcohol drinking across development. Our work is supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism - West.
