PROFESSOR CHARLES D. BLAHA

Director of the Division of Experimental Psychology

I am interested in a Systems Neuroscience approach to understanding the neurobiological bases of incentive-motivated behaviors, neuropsychiatric disorders, and drug addiction using state of the art in vivo electrochemical and microdialysis recording techniques. My program of research has involved elucidating receptor mechanisms in the hindbrain and midbrain that are important targets for therapeutic drugs and for mediating the actions of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, glutamate, and several neuropeptides that critically control forebrain dopaminergic neurotransmission. My research also involves the development of new neurochemical recording procedures to improve the therapeutic success of deep brain stimulation in individuals suffering neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease.

From a neurobiological perspective, "The brain boggles the mind". (Watson G., 1992, Discovering the Brain, Ackerman S. ed., Wash. D.C., Nat. Acad. Press).