Lab Meeting October 31, 2025 was in homage to Halloween as we all decorated pumkpins while updating everyone on our projects. Exchange student Matthew Kim (a graduate student visiting from Marla Sokolowski's lab at the University of Toronto) treated us all to Buffalo chicken dip, and we welcomed Pathobiology graduate student Nola Ihejirika as she completed her first week of her rotation in the lab.

Postdoctoral associate Dr. Lewis Sherer presented his work at the 9th Northeast Glenn Foundation Symposium on the Biology of Aging held at UConn Health on October 24, 2025. Lewis presented a collaborative project between our lab and the labs of Dr. Tara White and Dr. Carolina Haass-Koffler . This work demonstrates that in humans and flies, the alpha1 receptor is reduced with age. Lewis demonstrated that this reduction plays a causal role in the efficacy of blood-pressure m

The Kaun Lab is hiring new full-time Research Assistants! The position is ideal for someone interested in investigating how changes in gene regulation impact individual variation in addictive substance use. We are interested in people at all levels of experience but you must have a Bachelor's degree and some experience working in a laboratory. This includes: 1) someone who just graduated with their undergrad degree and is looking for a 2 year research experience ('Grade 7'),

Congratulations to Assistant Professor (Research) Dr. John Hernandez who was just awarded his first grant as a Principal Investigator! This COBRE Center for Nervous System Pilot award provides $100,000 for John to investigate the mechanisms through which stress impacts motivation for alcohol self-administration. The lab is very exciting to see what interesting findings emerge from this new research direction. Well done John!