Kyle P
- Research Program Mentor
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Expertise
Neuroscience of addiction and mental illness, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the brain, pharmaceuticals and pharmacology
Project ideas
Effect of Traumatic Brain Injury on Behavior and Cognition
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are common in impact sports and combat zones. Some are severe immediately and cause severe bleeding in the brain, while others involve the slow accumulation of many small impacts and brain bleeds that progress. TBIs vastly affect cognition and memory, and cause accelerated neurodegeneration in patients. The goal of this project would be to understand the underlying factors that cause the lifelong problems and neurodegeneration.
Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Drug Abuse
Addiction is a learned behavior that comes with the repeated use of stimulants, depressants, or narcotics. These different drug classes have very different mechanisms of action and affect people in very different ways, yet they all hijack innate learning mechanisms to drive a person to seek the drug above food, water, family, school, and work. The goal of this project would be to investigate one specific drug and how it hijacks the brain with repeated use.