Brandon Warren, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
About Brandon Warren
Brandon Warren, Ph.D., received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Florida State University. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland. Warren’s lab integrates behavioral, biochemical, and microscopic approaches to probe the role of neuronal ensembles (patterns of neurons activated during behavior) in animal models of drug addiction.
Related Links:
Teaching Profile
Courses Taught
2020-2024
PHA7979 Advanced Research
2020-2024
PHA6512L Experiential Research Training in Pharmacodynamics
2020-2022,2024
PHA6521C Research Techniques in Pharmacodynamics
2020-2021,2024
PHA6936 Advanced Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences
2020,2022-2024
PHA7980 Research for Doctoral Dissertation
2020-2021
PHA6910 Supervised Research
2021-2022
PHA5561 Pathphys-Pt Assess II
2022-2024
PHA5789C Patient Care 7
2022-2024
PHA6508 Systems Physiology and Pathophysiology I
2022-2023
PHA5560 Pathphys-Pt Assess I
2024
GMS7794 Neuroscience Seminar
2024
GMS6029 Brain Journal Club
Research Profile
Drug addiction appears to involve abnormally strong learned associations, typified by intrusive memories that often induce drug craving and relapse. Our research endeavors to decode how these drug memories are stored in the brain. We hypothesize that learned associations are encoded by patterns of sparsely distributed neurons, called neuronal ensembles, which are selected by cues and their reinforcers. Since strong neuronal activity drives expression of the immediate early gene Fos, we use Fos expression to identify neuronal ensembles activated during behavior. The relationship between neuronal activity and Fos expression permits us to use the Fos promoter to drive expression of transgenes in rats. Transgenic rat lines now allow us to characterize and manipulate neuronal ensembles with unmatched specificity. Understanding how these memories are encoded may one day enable us to treat drug addiction by strengthening or weakening specific drug or memories.
For more details and information about joining the lab, please visit our website: http://www.warren-lab.com
Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)
0000-0002-5922-9382
Publications
2024
Nucleus accumbens neuronal ensembles vary with cocaine reinforcement in male and female rats
Addiction Biology.
29(5)
[DOI] 10.1111/adb.13397.
[PMID] 38711205.
2024
Self-administration acquisition latency predicts locomotor sensitivity to cocaine in male rats.
Behavioural brain research.
473
[DOI] 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115170.
[PMID] 39084564.
2024
Separate gut-brain circuits for fat and sugar reinforcement combine to promote overeating.
Cell metabolism.
36(2):393-407.e7
[DOI] 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.12.014.
[PMID] 38242133.
2023
Viral-mediated expression of Erk2 in the nucleus accumbens regulates responses to rewarding and aversive stimuli.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.
[DOI] 10.1101/2023.10.03.560689.
[PMID] 37873069.
2022
Fos‐expressing neuronal ensembles in rat infralimbic cortex encode initial and maintained oxycodone seeking in rats
Addiction Biology.
27(2)
[DOI] 10.1111/adb.13148.
[PMID] 35229934.
2022
Prelimbic Ensembles Mediate Cocaine Seeking After Behavioral Acquisition and Once Rats Are Well-Trained.
Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience.
16
[DOI] 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.920667.
[PMID] 36225390.
2021
Adolescent fluoxetine treatment mediates a persistent anxiety-like outcome in female C57BL/6 mice that is ameliorated by fluoxetine re-exposure in adulthood.
Scientific reports.
11(1)
[DOI] 10.1038/s41598-021-87378-6.
[PMID] 33833356.
2021
Food-Seeking Behavior Is Mediated by Fos-Expressing Neuronal Ensembles Formed at First Learning in Rats.
eNeuro.
8(2)
[DOI] 10.1523/ENEURO.0373-20.2021.
[PMID] 33472867.
2021
Fos‐expressing neuronal ensemble in rat ventromedial prefrontal cortex encodes cocaine seeking but not food seeking in rats
Addiction Biology.
26(3)
[DOI] 10.1111/adb.12943.
[PMID] 32683756.
2020
Can I Get a Witness? Using Vicarious Defeat Stress to Study Mood-Related Illnesses in Traditionally Understudied Populations.
Biological psychiatry.
88(5):381-391
[DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.02.004.
[PMID] 32228871.
2020
Nicotine treatment buffers negative behavioral consequences induced by exposure to physical and emotional stress in adolescent male mice.
Psychopharmacology.
237(10):3125-3137
[DOI] 10.1007/s00213-020-05598-6.
[PMID] 32594187.
2019
Separate vmPFC Ensembles Control Cocaine Self-Administration Versus Extinction in Rats
The Journal of Neuroscience.
39(37):7394-7407
[DOI] 10.1523/jneurosci.0918-19.2019.
2019
Upregulation of hippocampal extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-2 induces antidepressant-like behavior in the rat forced swim test.
Behavioral neuroscience.
133(2):225-231
[DOI] 10.1037/bne0000303.
[PMID] 30907619.
2018
Prelimbic cortex is a common brain area activated during cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine and heroin seeking in a polydrug self-administration model
European Journal of Neuroscience.
49(2):165-178
[DOI] 10.1111/ejn.14203.
[PMID] 30307667.
2018
Parvalbumin-Expressing Neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens: A New Player in Amphetamine Sensitization and Reward.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
43(5):929-930
[DOI] 10.1038/npp.2017.256.
[PMID] 29162905.
2017
Bidirectional Modulation of Intrinsic Excitability in Rat Prelimbic Cortex Neuronal Ensembles and Non-Ensembles after Operant Learning.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
37(36):8845-8856
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3761-16.2017.
[PMID] 28779019.
2017
Mechanistic Resolution Required to Mediate Operant Learned Behaviors: Insights from Neuronal Ensemble-Specific Inactivation.
Frontiers in neural circuits.
11
[DOI] 10.3389/fncir.2017.00028.
[PMID] 28484375.
2017
Neurons Internalize Functionalized Micron-Sized Silicon Dioxide Microspheres.
Cellular and molecular neurobiology.
37(8):1487-1499
[DOI] 10.1007/s10571-017-0479-z.
[PMID] 28260198.
2017
Role of Dorsomedial Striatum Neuronal Ensembles in Incubation of Methamphetamine Craving after Voluntary Abstinence.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
37(4):1014-1027
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3091-16.2016.
[PMID] 28123032.
2017
The Anterior Insular Cortex→Central Amygdala Glutamatergic Pathway Is Critical to Relapse after Contingency Management.
Neuron.
96(2):414-427.e8
[DOI] 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.024.
[PMID] 29024664.
2016
Distinct Fos-Expressing Neuronal Ensembles in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Mediate Food Reward and Extinction Memories.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
36(25):6691-703
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0140-16.2016.
[PMID] 27335401.
2016
Vicarious social defeat stress: Bridging the gap between physical and emotional stress.
Journal of neuroscience methods.
258:94-103
[DOI] 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.10.012.
[PMID] 26545443.
2015
Context-induced reinstatement of methamphetamine seeking is associated with unique molecular alterations in Fos-expressing dorsolateral striatum neurons.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
35(14):5625-39
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4997-14.2015.
[PMID] 25855177.
2014
Altered gene expression and spine density in nucleus accumbens of adolescent and adult male mice exposed to emotional and physical stress.
Developmental neuroscience.
36(3-4):250-60
[DOI] 10.1159/000362875.
[PMID] 24943326.
2014
Effects of psychotropic drugs on second messenger signaling and preference for nicotine in juvenile male mice
.
231(8):1479-1492
2014
Effects of psychotropic drugs on second messenger signaling and preference for nicotine in juvenile male mice.
Psychopharmacology.
231(8):1479-92
[DOI] 10.1007/s00213-014-3434-4.
[PMID] 24452697.
2014
Fluoxetine exposure during adolescence alters responses to aversive stimuli in adulthood.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
34(3):1007-21
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5725-12.2014.
[PMID] 24431458.
2014
Individual differences in the peripheral immune system promote resilience versus susceptibility to social stress.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
111(45):16136-41
[DOI] 10.1073/pnas.1415191111.
[PMID] 25331895.
2014
Life-long consequences of juvenile exposure to psychotropic drugs on brain and behavior.
Progress in brain research.
211:13-30
[DOI] 10.1016/B978-0-444-63425-2.00002-7.
[PMID] 24968775.
2014
Social defeat stress induces a depression-like phenotype in adolescent male c57BL/6 mice.
Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands).
17(3):247-55
[DOI] 10.3109/10253890.2014.910650.
[PMID] 24689732.
2013
Neurobiological sequelae of witnessing stressful events in adult mice.
Biological psychiatry.
73(1):7-14
[DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.06.006.
[PMID] 22795644.
2013
Repeated ketamine exposure induces an enduring resilient phenotype in adolescent and adult rats.
Biological psychiatry.
74(10):750-9
[DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.04.027.
[PMID] 23790225.
2011
Juvenile administration of concomitant methylphenidate and fluoxetine alters behavioral reactivity to reward- and mood-related stimuli and disrupts ventral tegmental area gene expression in adulthood.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
31(28):10347-58
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1470-11.2011.
[PMID] 21753012.
2010
DeltaFosB in brain reward circuits mediates resilience to stress and antidepressant responses.
Nature neuroscience.
13(6):745-52
[DOI] 10.1038/nn.2551.
[PMID] 20473292.
2010
Dnmt3a regulates emotional behavior and spine plasticity in the nucleus accumbens.
Nature neuroscience.
13(9):1137-43
[DOI] 10.1038/nn.2619.
[PMID] 20729844.
2010
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase-2 within the ventral tegmental area regulates responses to stress.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
30(22):7652-63
[DOI] 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0951-10.2010.
[PMID] 20519540.
2010
Short- and long-term functional consequences of fluoxetine exposure during adolescence in male rats.
Biological psychiatry.
67(11):1057-66
[DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.12.033.
[PMID] 20172503.
2010
Viral-mediated expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-2 in the ventral tegmental area modulates behavioral responses to cocaine.
Behavioural brain research.
214(2):460-4
[DOI] 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.05.040.
[PMID] 20561901.
2009
Nicotine exposure during adolescence induces a depression-like state in adulthood.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
34(6):1609-24
[DOI] 10.1038/npp.2008.220.
[PMID] 19092782.
2008
AKT signaling within the ventral tegmental area regulates cellular and behavioral responses to stressful stimuli.
Biological psychiatry.
64(8):691-700
[DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.06.003.
[PMID] 18639865.
2008
Insulin receptor substrate-2 in the ventral tegmental area regulates behavioral responses to cocaine.
Behavioral neuroscience.
122(5):1172-7
[DOI] 10.1037/a0012893.
[PMID] 18823173.
1991
Relationship of heart rate to oxygen uptake during weight lifting exercise.
Medicine and science in sports and exercise.
23(5):636-40
[PMID] 2072844.
Grants
Aug 2024
ACTIVE
Development of sigma receptor/DAT dual-targeting compounds to treat stimulant use disorder
Role: Co-Investigator
Funding: SPARIAN BIOSCIENCES
via NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA
Jul 2024
ACTIVE
The role of neuronal ensemble Rac1 activity in cocaine seeking behavior
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA
Aug 2023
– Jul 2024
Development of sigma receptor/DAT dual-targeting compounds to treat stimulant use disorder
Role: Co-Investigator
Funding: SPARIAN BIOSCIENCES
via NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA
Feb 2019
– Jan 2023
Neuronal ensembles in extinction of cocaine seeking
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA
Jan 2019
– Jan 2022
The Role of Neuronal Ensembles in Food Versus Cocaine Self-administration.
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: BRAIN & BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Education
Ph.D.
2013
·
Florida State University
M.S.
2010
·
Florida State University
B.Sc.
2008
·
Florida State University
Contact Details
Phones:
- Business:
- (352) 273-7010
Emails:
- Business:
- brandon.warren@ufl.edu
Addresses:
- Business Mailing:
-
PO Box 100487
GAINESVILLE FL 32610 - Business Street:
-
MSB P1-27
MSB P1-27
GAINESVILLE FL 326110001