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Psychology Department
   
Laura E. O'Dell    

Laura O'Dell
   
Personal Information    

Ph.D., Arizona State University (1997)

Associate Professor

Curriculum Vitae

Neural Basis of Addiction Lab

O'Dell Selected Works
   
Research Interests    

My research program is focused on the neural mechanisms that mediate addiction to drugs of abuse. Our laboratory combines neurochemical and molecular approaches with behavioral models to study the neural basis of addiction. 


Specific areas of interest include:
• Age and sex differences in modulating developmental sensitivity to tobacco abuse

• Neurochemical and genetic mechanisms mediating nicotine exposure and withdrawal

• Cholinergic regulation of nicotine and alcohol dependence

• Diabetic states on the rewarding effects of nicotine

   
Sample Publications    

O¹Dell, L.E. (2011). Nico-teen: Neural substrates that mediate adolescent tobacco abuse. Neuropsychopharmacology, Hot Topics issue, 36:356-357.


Natividad, L.A., Tejeda, H.A., Torres, O.V., and O¹Dell, L.E. (2010). Nicotine withdrawal produces a decrease in extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens that is lower in adolescent versus adult male rats. Synapse. 64:136-145.


Torres, O.V., Natividad, L.A., Tejeda, H.A., Van Weelden, SA., and O¹Dell, L.E. (2009). Female rats display dose-dependent differences to the rewarding and aversive effects of nicotine in an age-, hormone-, and sex-dependent. Psychopharmacology, 206:303 312.


O¹Dell, L.E., and Khroyan, T.V. (2009). Rodent Models of Nicotine Reward: What do they tell us about tobacco abuse in humans?² Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 91:481-488.


O¹Dell, L.E. (2009). A psychobiological framework of the substrates that mediate nicotine use during adolescence. Neuropharmacology, 56: 263-278.

Torres, O.V., Natividad, L.A., Tejeda, H.A., O'Dell, L.E. (2008). Enhanced vulnerability to the rewarding effects of nicotine during the adolescent period of development. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 90: 658-663.

   
Contact Information    

Email

Phone: 1-915-747-6557
Fax: 1-915-747-6553

216A Psychology Building
Department of Psychology
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso TX, 79968

   
Courses Minimize    

Psychobiology-PSYC 4324
Drugs of Abuse & Beh.-PSYC 3346
Animal Learning & Beh.-PSYC 5371
Grant Writing-PSYC 5355
Adv. Topics in Neurosci.-PSYC 5355
   
Other Resources