Kevin Coffey, PhD
I am a behavioral neuroscientist who earned my PhD from Rutgers University and completed a postdoc here, in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at the University of Washington. My lab, located in the MIRECC at VA Puget Sound, aims to identify the neural mechanisms underlying substance use disorders and maladaptive decision making.
My primary focus is studying the neurobiological consequences and predictors of chronic fentanyl use. To accomplish this, I utilize cutting-edge in-vivo optical neuroscience tools (photometry, optogenetics, miniscopes) along with a newly developed oral-fentanyl self-administration model for rats and mice. I am also the lead developer for DeepSqueak, a popular software package for bioacoustics analysis that integrates machine-vision algorithms with an intuitive graphical interface to accelerate animal communication research.
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Other Affiliations
- Once-weekly GLP-1R agonist dulaglutide for treatment of fentanyl use disorder and modulation of lateral habenula activity in male and female rats
- Determining if activity in specific lateral habenula output pathways motivates avoidance of synthetic opioid withdrawal or cue induced reinstatement
- Determining if activity in LHb projections to the RMTg promotes cued reinstatement to fentanyl seeking through indirect inhibition of VTA dopamine neurons
- Determining if activity in specific lateral habenula output pathways motivates avoidance of synthetic opioid withdrawal or cue induced reinstatement
