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Welcome to the Gipson Lab

We are housed in the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences in the College of Medicine at UK. The focus of the lab is to identify novel neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms to guide the treatment of addiction, including glutamatergic, dopaminergic, neuroimmune, and ovarian hormone mechanisms underlying addiction to various drugs of dependence during young adulthood and during the female reproductive transition of menopause. Projects focus on nicotine, xylazine adulteration of fentanyl, and oxycodone/cocaine co-use, utilizing both in vivo and in vitro methodologies to study rapid alterations in synaptic plasticity (measured as changes in dendritic spines or AMPA/NMDA current ratios using whole cell patch clamp electrophysiology) during or immediately following behavior (specifically, during self-administration and reinstatement of drug seeking).  We also study microglia-neuron interactions during nicotine consumption and seeking, and novel mechanisms of xylazine/fentanyl co-use. To date, our work has revealed novel neurobiological mechanisms of drug use, and has the potential to contribute to the development of novel therapeutic options aimed at reversing drug-induced alterations and thus improve drug use cessation outcomes. This work has resulted in translational collaborations to examine clinical efficacy of pharmacotherapeutics in promoting drug use cessation.

We are currently funded by 4 grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH):

  1. R01 DA046526 (Gipson-Reichardt, PI; 09/30/2019-08/31/2024). Neuroinflammatory and glutamatergic mechanisms of nicotine seeking.
  2. R21 DA055879 (Gipson-Reichardt, PI; 09/27/2022-08/30/2024). Contributions of Progestins Independently and Interactively with Contraceptive Estrogen to Nicotine Use
  3. R33 DA049130 (Gipson-Reichardt, MPI; Stoops, MPI;  09/20/2020-08/31/2025). Glutamatergic mechanisms in opioid and cocaine co-use.
  4. R01 DA058933 (Gipson-Reichardt, MPI; Hinds, MPI: 06/15/2023-05/31/2028). Neurobehavioral mechanisms of xylazine and fentanyl co-use and withdrawal

We are also funded by the following Faculty awards:

  1. Faculty pilot award from the Substance Use Priority Research Area (SUPRA): “Evaluating the neurobiological mechanisms of suvorexant in reducing fentanyl withdrawal and relapse”
  2.  Career Development Award from the Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences: “E-Cigarette Aerosol and Hormone Interactions on Neurobiology and Cyclicity”. Sponsor: NIEHS