Specializations

• Drugs of abuse
• Addiction
• Plasticity
• Motivation
• Neuroscience

Research Description

Dr. Gulley's laboratory studies the neurobiological and behavioral consequences
of repeated exposure to psychoactive drugs such as amphetamine, cocaine and
alcohol. Research in the lab is currently addressing three main questions: (1) Are
adolescents, compared to adults, more sensitive to drug-induced changes in
neural function and behavior?  (2) Are there more adverse consequences when drug exposure occurs early in life and are there age-dependent differences in drug-induced neuroadaptations?  (3) What are the neurobiological mechanisms
that underlie individual differences in the behavioral response to drugs of
abuse?

In the lab, Dr. Gulley and his students use behavioral and physiological
methods of analysis, both alone and in combination. For behavior, they study
drug responses using operant self-administration, conditioned place preference,
drug discrimination, and behavioral sensitization techniques. They also use
operant food-reinforced responding to assess cognitive behaviors, including
impulsivity, behavioral flexibility, attention, and working memory. Their
primary physiological measure is in vivo multiple neuron
electrophysiology, which allows for the recording of the activity of a large
number of brain cells as animals are actively behaving.

Education

• B.S. from the University of Iowa
• Ph.D. from Indiana University

Grants

• Mechanisms of amphetamine-induced plasticity in adolescents compared to adults (R01 DA029815)

Webpages

• My Bibliography (via PubMed)
• Alcohol effects in adolescence
• Amphetamine Use in Adolescence
• Neuroscience Program
• UIUC Center for Neuroproteomics on Cell to Cell Signaling

Courses

• PSYC 210: The Brain and the Mind
• PSYC 413: Psychopharmacology
• PSYC 593: Behavioral Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (Seminar)

Recent Publications

Gulley JM, Stanis JJ (2010). Adaptations in medial prefrontal cortex function associated with amphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization. Neuroscience, Epub 2009 Dec 23 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.12.044)

Hall DA, Stanis JJ, Avila HM, Gulley JM (2008). A comparison of amphetamine- and methamphetamine-induced locomotor activity in rats: evidence for qualitative differences in behavior. Psychopharmacology, 195:469-78. Epub 2007 Sep 17. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-007-0923-8).

Klein DA, Gulley JM (2009). Reduced sensitivity to the locomotor-stimulant effects of cocaine is associated with increased sensitivity to its discriminative stimulus properties. Behavioural Pharmacology, 20:67-77. Epub 2009 Jan 2 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/FBP.0b013e3283242fdd)

Sherrill LK, Koss WA, Foreman ES, Gulley JM (2010).The effects of pre-pubertal gonadectomy and binge-like ethanol exposure during adolescence on ethanol drinking in adult male and female rats. Behavioural Brain Research, Epub 2010 Sep 10 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2010.08.048)

Stanis JJ, Burns RM, Sherrill LK, Gulley JM (2008). Disparate cocaine-induced locomotion as a predictor of choice behavior in rats trained in a delay-discounting task. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 98:54-62. Epub 2008 June 6. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.04.009)