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Lycoming graduate presents research poster

Lycoming College alumna Gillian Barkell ’19 recently attended and presented research at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago.

She was awarded the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience travel award to attend this year’s meeting, where she presented her poster, “Caffeine-Induced Increases in the Reinforcing Effects of Alcohol are Independent of Activity at the Dopamine D2 Receptor.”

The concept for Barkell’s research originated from her time working with Sarah Holstein, assistant professor and co-coordinator of the neuroscience program at Lycoming College.

“Through our discussions and work, we created a very interesting study demonstrating that caffeine may be increasing the reinforcing or pleasurable effects of alcohol,” Holstein said. “Gillian took this research further demonstrating that this reinforcement-enhancing effect of caffeine occurs independent of enhanced activity at the D2 receptor, a type of dopamine receptor in the brain which is important for pleasure and reward. These findings counter the prevailing hypothesis for how caffeine may be enhancing the rewarding value of pleasurable substances, such as alcohol, and open up new questions for how caffeine may specifically be promoting heightened levels of alcohol and drug use.”

The Society for Neuroscience offers the leading venue for neuroscientists to present new science, learn from experts, collaborate with others, and advance their careers.

This annual meeting brings around 30,000 neuroscientists students, professors, and researchers from more than 70 different countries.

Barkell worked with Holstein for over two years in the lab, and completed her honors thesis, which is represented in her Society for Neuroscience meeting poster, during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Barkell graduated from Lycoming College with a bachelor of science in psychology and a minor in biology. She is currently working toward her doctorate as a first-year graduate student in the behavioral and integrative neuroscience graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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