Skip to main content Skip to navigation
TARC Faculty

David Rossi

Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience (Pullman) – Departmental Page
rossid@vetmed.wsu.edu
Rossi, David

Alcohol Addiction
Neural Plasticity and Memory/Addiction

The long term goal of my research is to identify potential molecular targets for pharmacological intervention of the various phases of drug and alcohol addiction, and to protect the brain from ongoing damage from drug and alcohol abuse. We use electrophysiology, pharmacology, and fluorescence imaging in brain slices to characterize how drugs of abuse, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine affect neuronal and glial signaling in individual cells, and how such actions influence neural processing across brain circuits. In the process, we also determine the molecular mechanisms of such actions, and we apply that information to understand and manipulate drug and alcohol abuse related behaviors. In particular we are interested in: 1) mechanisms that mediate genetic or environmental risk for drug and alcohol abuse, 2) how early (perinatal and adolescent) exposure to such drugs alters the brain to facilitate later abuse and transition to addiction, and 3) how chronic abuse alters the brain to perpetuate addiction.

Rossi