SMART Program student Hiram Rodriguez setting up a luciferase reporter assay.

Molecular Neurogenetics Laboratory Institute of Behavioral Genetics Life Sciences Research Bldg #4 Department of Integrative Physiology University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0447 phone: 303-492-8844 fax: 303-492-8063

Research Interests

• The role of the nicotinic cholinergic system in behavior, physiology, and disease.


• The neurobiological bases for the actions of nicotine and alcohol.

Personnel

• Director: Jerry A. Stitzel, PhD.


• Postdoctoral Fellow: Tom Precht, PhD; Anne Tammimäki, PhD.


• Graduate Students: Will Horton, BS; Janessa Jacobs, BA; Tristan McClure-Begley, BA.


• Professional Research Assistants: Susie Kim and James Laughlin.


• Undergraduate Students: Amanda Cyboron, Penny Herder, Aaron Lam, Kavitha
  Muruganantham, Christine Nguyen and Vivian Nguyen.


• Visiting Foreign Student: Sarah Foale, University of Bath, Bath, England


• Collaborators: Allan Collins, PhD, Sharon Grady, PhD, Michael Marks, PhD, Jeanne Wehner, PhD, and Paul Whiteaker, PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder; Cathy Adams, PhD, Robert Freedman, MD, Sherry Leonard, PhD, and Karen Stevens, PhD, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Kent Hutchinson, MIND Institute at the University of New Mexico; Laura Bierut, MD, Washington University, St. Louis.

Back row: James Laughlin, Tristan McClre-Begley, Tom Precht, Vivian Nguyen, Jerry Stitzel. Front row: Amanda Cyboron, Janessa Jacobs, Susie Kim and Penny Herder.

Current Research Projects

• Identification of naturally occurring polymorphisms in the mouse neuronal nicotinic receptor subunit gene family.


• Assessment of the relation between identified nicotinic receptor gene polymorphisms, behavior, neuroanatomy, and physiology.


• Molecular and cellular characterization of nicotinic receptor polymorphisms.


• Utilization of nicotinic receptor knock-out mice to determine the pharmacological targets of nicotinic compounds.


• Mapping of genetic loci that influence free-choice nicotinic consumption in mice.


• Assessing the extent to which sensitivity to the physiological and behavioral effects of nicotine varies over the course of a day and determining the role of melatonin, nicotine metabolism and nicotinic receptor expression in this phenomenon.

Opportunities for Undergraduates

Undergraduates wanting to begin participating in research in our laboratory must meet the following requirements:

• Minimum committment: 1 academic year.
• Minimum hr/week: 8 (in blocks of 2 hr or more work/day).
• Minimum experience: No prior experience required.
• Other: Must be willing to work with rodents and work occasionally on weekends.

Recent Publications

• Bierut LJ, Stitzel JA, Wang JC, Hinrichs AL, Grucza RA, Xuei X, Saccone NL, Saccone SF, Bertelsen S, Fox L, Horton WH, Breslau N, Budde J, Cloninger CR, Dick DM, Foroud T, Hatsukami D, Hesselbrock V, Johnson EO, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Madden PAF, Mayo K, Nurnberger J, Pomerleau O, Porjesz B, Reyes O, Schuckit M, Swan G, Tischfield JA, Edenberg HJ, Rice JP, Goete AM. Variants in nicotinic receptors and risk for nicotine dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry 165:1163-71, 2008.


• Brooks N, Mexal S, Stitzel JA. Chrna7 genotype is linked with alpha7 nicotinic receptor expression but not alpha7 RNA levels. Brain Research 1263:1-9, 2009.


• McClure-Begley TD, King NM, Collins AC, Stitzel JA, Wehner JM, Butt CM. Acetylcholine-Stimulated [3H]GABA Release from Mouse Brain Synaptosomes is Modulated by α4β2 and α4α5β2 Nicotinic Receptor Subtypes. Journal of Neurochemistry 75:918-26, 2009.


• Saccone NL, Saccone SF, Hinrichs AL, Stitzel JA, Duan W, Madden PAF, Pergadia M, Wang JC, Goate AM, Rice JP, Bierut LJ. Nicotine dependence and the complete family of nicotinic receptor subunit genes: independent and interacting genetic variants are associated with risk. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 150B:453-66, 2009.


• Stitzel JA. Naturally-occurring genetic variability in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha4 and alpha7 subunit genes and phenotypic diversity in humans and mice. Frontiers in Bioscience 13:477-91, 2008.

Funding

• 2007-2010, NIH/NIDA, "Circadian variations in nicotine sensitivity in mice"
• 2008-2013, NIH/NCI, "Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence: Role of Chrna5 in modulating sensitivity to nicotine in mice"
• 2009-2014, NIH/NIMH, "Basic to Clinical Molecular Neurobiology of Nicotinic Receptors in Schizophrenia"