Overview
Ketamine, MDMA (“ecstasy”) and methamphetamine are drugs of abuse that have steadily gained in popularity. Compared to more traditional stimulants or narcotics, however, less is known about their mode of action, their subjective effects, and how these effects promote continued use. By integrating four Research Projects led by Drs. Karl Deisseroth, Lisa Giocomo, Robert Malenka, Leanne Williams, and Brian Knutson, we aim to develop a theoretically-informed characterization of the effects of these drugs on the neurobehavior of specific circuits for processing risk and reward, the connectivity of these circuits, and how these circuits and their connectivity predict acute drug experience and drug use outcomes.