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Alfredo Zúñiga

Head shot of Alfredo Zúñiga

Alfredo Zúñiga

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

azuniga@wooster.edu

Phone: 330-263-2258

Office: Williams 182

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Degrees

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin, 2019-21
  • Ph.D., Oregon Health & Science University, 2019
  • M.S., University of Colorado Boulder, 2014
  • B.A., Willamette University, 2012
Areas of Interest

Our ability to form, store, and recall memories is critical for our survival. Memories of traumatic experiences or fearful events can promote defensive behaviors that allow organisms to better cope with similar situations in the future or avoid them all together. Conversely, memories of rewarding experiences can promote the repetition of certain behaviors. Broadly, my research program focuses on better understanding how aversive and appetitive memories are formed, stored, and recalled. More specifically, my lab uses behavioral, genetic, and molecular techniques to identify, characterize and modulate neuronal populations that are involved in these processes.

Courses Taught
  • NEUR 200: Introduction to Neuroscience
  • PSYC 345: Drugs and Behavior
  • NEUR 399: Neuropharmacology
  • NEUR 399: Neurobiology of Substance Use Disorder
Publications

Zuniga, A., Han, J., Miller-Crews, I., Agee, L.A., Hofmann, H.A., Drew, M.R. (2024). Fear extinction training suppresses reactivation of fear ensembles throughout the hippocampal formation and induces specific single-cell transcriptomes. Neuropsychopharmacology.

Zuniga, A., Smith, M.L., Caruso, M., & Ryabinin, A.E. (2021). Vesicular glutamate transporter 2-containing neurons of the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus regulate alcohol drinking and body temperature. Neuropharmacology, 200, (108795).

Zuniga, A., Ryabinin, A.E., & Cunningham, C.L. (2020). Effects of pharmacological inhibition of the Edinger-Westphal nucleus on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and body temperature. Alcohol, 87.

Zuniga, A., Ryabinin, A.E. (2020). Involvement of centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus neuropeptides in actions of addictive drugs. Brain Sciences, 10, (2).

Zuniga, A., & Cunningham, C.L. (2019). Rewarding and aversive doses of caffeine alter activity but not conditioned place preference induced by ethanol in DBA/2J mice. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 187, (172799)

Deussing, J.M., Ryabinin, A.E., Zuniga, A., Kozicz, T. (2017). Action of CRF/urocortin peptides. in de Kloet, E.R. (Ed.) Hormones, Brain & Behavior (3rd ed). Elsevier.

Duncan J.E., Lytle, N.K., Zuniga A., & Goldstein, L.S.B. (2013). The Microtubule Regulatory Protein Stathmin Is Required to Maintain the Integrity of Axonal Microtubules in Drosophila. PLoS ONE, 8, (6).

Professional Affiliations
  • Society for Neuroscience
  • Pavlovian Society
  • Research Society on Alcoholism
  • Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience