Erik Oleson Lab.
About.
Erik Oleson, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Denver
Psychology Department
erik.oleson@ucdenver.edu
Research in the Oleson lab generally focuses on the role of subsecond dopamine release in motivated behavior within the context of psychiatric disease. We measure real-time dopamine release during ongoing behavior using a technique called fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and control dopamine neural activity using chemogenetic and optogenetic approaches. Specific projects include: assessing the role of dopamine in negative reinforcement, assessing the role of dopamine in conditioned avoidance—a classical screen of the antipsychotic response, assessing the role of dopamine in drug withdrawal, establishing potential pharmacotherapies that might be used to treat schizophrenia and drug addiction.
Biography.
Before coming to the University of Colorado Denver I received post-doctoral training from Joseph Cheer in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
I graduated from Presbyterian College (South Carolina) in 2005 with a BA in Psychology and a BS in Biology. As an undergraduate, I conducted research in the Kalivas' lab at the Medical University of South Carolina under the mentorship of Dr. Karen Szumlinski. Specifically, I studied the role of a trafficking protein called Homer in mediating behavioral and neurochemical responses to drugs of abuse.
I then earned my PhD at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (North Carolina) under the mentorship of Dr. David C.S. Roberts. My dissertation project involved studying specific aspects of cocaine addiction using intravenous drug self-administration models. I demonstrated that specific components of the addiction process, such as changes in cocaine consumption and price paid for cocaine, can be behaviorally and neurochemically dissociated. During this time I was also mentored by two electrochemists, Dr. Sara Jones and Dr. Evgeny Budygin. With their assistance, I investigated changes in dopamine signaling that occur following different pharmacological histories of cocaine self-administration using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in anesthetized rats.
Most recently, I received post-doctoral training in the lab of Dr. Joseph Cheer at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Here I investigated how the brain's natural cannabinoid system (i.e., endocannabinoid system) modulates dopamine signaling during positive reinforcement (i.e., behavior maintained by stimuli that are generally assumed to be rewarding) using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in behaving rats. I further studied the role of subsecond dopamine release during the extinction of fear memories and conditioned avoidance. Additionally, I began using optogenetics to determine whether dopamine plays a causal role in conditioned avoidance.