The Barker Lab is located in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University's Center City Campus.

The focus of our research is to understand the neurobiological bases of behavioral flexibility and cognitive control, and the mechanisms by which these processes are dysregulated in neuropsychiatric illnesses.

About Our Research

Neural circuits regulating response strategy selection
Investigation of the neuroanatomical substrates of habitual reward-seeking has largely focused on the medial prefrontal cortex and the dorsal striatum, with discrete subregions within these structures having opposing roles in the expression of habits versus actions. Learn more.

Drug-induced alterations in circuits that promote the development of inflexible behavior
Historically, the focus of addiction research has been on developing strategies to reduce the rewarding aspects of drugs of abuse. However, the addiction field is increasingly recognizing that this focus on addiction as a disorder of the mesolimbic reward system is incomplete. Learn more.

Interactions between innate and acquired risk factors for inflexible behavior
While many models of addiction have focused on the neurobiological changes that occur across the development of dependence caused by drug exposure, an additional line of research in the Barker Lab is focused on identifying innate risk for addictive behavior. Learn more.

Current Lab Members

Jacqueline Barker, PhD

Kathleen Bryant

Lauren Buck (Plyler), MS

Laura Giacometti, PhD

Yue Lu

Jessie Nagle

Mitch Nothem, PhD

Sam Stine

Qiaowei Xie

 

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Jacqueline Barker, PhD: Pharmacology and Physiology

Jacqueline Barker, PhD
Principal Investigator; Associate Professor