Biomedical Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program
(B-SURE)
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA)
KOEK, Wouter (Phsychiatry): My work involves using animal
models aimed at aiding the development of medications for substance
abuse. The models involve behavioral effects that range from directly
observable (e.g., drug-induced motor impairment) to effects examined by
operant conditioning procedures (e.g., discriminative stimulus effects).
The pharmacological mechanisms by which drugs produce their
abuse-related effects are, for the most part, poorly understood. Abuse
potential of a particular drug is likely related to its subjective
effects, and subjective effects of drugs in humans can often be
predicted from drug discrimination experiments in animals. The
discriminative stimulus effects of many drugs of abuse involve several
different receptor mechanisms, some of which may be unique to that drug
and some which are common with other drugs. By identifying the role of
specific receptors in abuse, future studies may be better able to
develop specific, pharmacologically targeted therapies.
Wouter Koek's Web Page.