Alfredo Zúñiga

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. Of note, neutral stimuli present during these experiences can become associated with trauma or reward through Pavlovian conditioning, and exposure to these stimuli can trigger defensive or appetitive behaviors. The retrieval of these memories at inappropriate times, by the exposure to stimuli, can be highly maladaptive. Indeed, anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are characterized in part by the inability of patients to suppress the recall of traumatic memories, even under safe conditions. Similarly, exposure to stimuli associated with drugs of abuse is believed to promote relapse, even following prolonged periods of abstinence. 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.

NEUR 200: Introduction to Neuroscience
PSYC 345: Drugs and Behavior
BIOL 380: Cellular Neuroscience
NEUR 385: Integrative Neuroscience Senior Seminar

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).

• Society for Neuroscience
• Pavlovian Society
• Research Society on Alcoholism