Skip to main content

Associate Professor, Pharmacology Associate Professor, Psychiatry Member, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies

Research Interests

  • Mechanisms that underlie various affective disorders including anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse

Research Synopsis

Research in the McElligott lab focuses on the circuits and plasticity that underlie the development and manifestation of psychiatric illness, specifically disorders on the affective spectrum including: alcohol use disorders, drug abuse and anxiety disorders. The lab has expertise in studying neurotransmission from the level of signaling in individual cells through behavior utilizing a variety of techniques including: whole-cell electrophysiology, in vivo and ex vivo fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, circuit manipulations (optogenetics, chemogenetics, caspase ablation), and behavioral assays.

There are several ongoing projects in the lab. One area we are focused on explores the role of neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) that express the neuropeptide neurotensin and the role these neurons play in alcohol related phenotypes. Additionally we are interested in exploring how norepinephrine modulates neurotransmission within the brain and how the norepinephrine system itself is modulated in models of substance abuse and post-traumatic stress. Beyond these studies, we are actively engaged in several other collaborative projects with other labs at UNC, as well as around the world.

Publications

 View complete list of publications in PubMed

Zoe McElligott, PhD