Available to mentor
The Ferrario lab integrates concepts from the addiction, learning, and feeding fields to ask new questions about the neurobiological and behavioral drivers of obesity vs. drug addiction. Specifically, we examine how alterations in glutamatergic transmission within the striatum contribute to normal and aberrant motivation. Our long-term goal is to understand how sugary, fatty foods and physiological changes accompanying obesity alter brain function and behavior, how individual susceptibility to obesity interacts with these effects, and how mechanisms underlying strong urges to eat may be similar to as well as different from those that drive abuse of addictive substances like cocaine.
Dr. Ferrario is also a member of the following programs at the University of Michigan:
Domino Addiction Research Center
Neuroscience Graduate Program
Neuroscience Innovators
Multidisciplinary Training Program in Basic Diabetes Research
NIDA Training Program in Neuroscience
Ferrario Lab twitter
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Center MemberCaswell Diabetes Institute
Neurobiology of motivation, obesity, addiction, glutamate plasticity, striatum
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Derman RC, Bryda EC, Ferrario CR. Behav Brain Res, 2024 Feb 29; 459: 114768Journal ArticleRole of nucleus accumbens D1-type medium spiny neurons in the expression and extinction of sign-tracking.
DOI:10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114768 PMID: 37984521 -
Fetterly TL, Catalfio AM, Ferrario CR. Neuropharmacology, 2024 Jan 1; 242: 109772Journal ArticleEffects of junk-food on food-motivated behavior and nucleus accumbens glutamate plasticity; insights into the mechanism of calcium-permeable AMPA receptor recruitment.
DOI:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2023.109772 PMID: 37898332 -
Catalfio AM, Fetterly TL, Nieto AM, Robinson TE, Ferrario CR. Biol Sex Differ, 2023 Jun 24; 14 (1): 41Journal ArticleCocaine-induced sensitization and glutamate plasticity in the nucleus accumbens core: effects of sex.
DOI:10.1186/s13293-023-00525-8 PMID: 37355656 -
Finnell JE, Ferrario CR. Appetite, 2023 Jul 1; 186: 106556Journal ArticleApplying behavioral economics-based approaches to examine the effects of liquid sucrose consumption on motivation.
DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2023.106556 PMID: 37044175 -
Becetti I, Bwenyi EL, de Araujo IE, Ard J, Cryan JF, Farooqi IS, Ferrario CR, Gluck ME, Holsen LM, Kenny PJ, Lawson EA, Lowell BB, Schur EA, Stanley TL, Tavakkoli A, Grinspoon SK, Singhal V. Am J Clin Nutr, 2023 Jul; 118 (1): 314 - 328.Journal ArticleThe Neurobiology of Eating Behavior in Obesity: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets: A Report from the 23rd Annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium.
DOI:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.05.003 PMID: 37149092 -
Fetterly TL, Catalfio AM, Ferrario CR. 2023 May 17;PreprintEffects of junk-food on food-motivated behavior and NAc glutamate plasticity; insights into the mechanism of NAc calcium-permeable AMPA receptor recruitment.
DOI:10.1101/2023.05.16.540977 PMID: 37292760 -
Saraswat AA, Longyear LG, Kawa AB, Ferrario CR. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 2023 Apr; 240 (4): 853 - 870.Journal ArticleCocaine-induced plasticity, motivation, and cue responsivity do not differ in obesity-prone vs obesity-resistant rats; implications for food addiction.
DOI:10.1007/s00213-023-06327-5 PMID: 36806961 -
Hu Y, Ferrario CR, Maitland AD, Ionides RB, Ghimire A, Watson B, Iwasaki K, White H, Xi Y, Zhou J, Ye B. Cell Rep Methods, 2023 Mar 27; 3 (3): 100415Journal ArticleLabGym: Quantification of user-defined animal behaviors using learning-based holistic assessment.
DOI:10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100415 PMID: 37056376
