Teaching

• Co-Director, Physiology Journal Club (Physio 290)
• Instructor, Human Physiology for Dental Students (Dent 1115); Human Physiology for Nursing Students (HLSC 2410); Integrated Systems (BIOMED 120)
• Faculty Advisor, Students for Sustainability

Selected Publications

Cruise SC, Secci ME, Kelley LK, Sharfman NM, Rodriguez-Graciani K, Wills TA, Gilpin NW, Avegno EM (2025). Chronic alcohol-associated increases in VTA Hcrtr1 expression are associated with heightened nociception and anxiety-like behavior in female rats. Advances in Drug and Alcohol Research, 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/adar.2025.14199.

Secci ME, Kelley LK, Avegno EM, Holmgren EB, Chen L, Rein SL, Engi SA, Quinlan V, Wilson L, Gilpin NW, Wills TA (2024). Adolescent alcohol exposure produces sex-specific long-term hyperalgesia via changes in central amygdala circuit function. Biological Psychiatry, 95(3), 207-219.

Van Savage J, Avegno EM (2023). High dose administration of DREADD agonist JHU37160 produces increases in anxiety-like behavior in male rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 452, 114553.

Secci ME, Reed T, Quinlan V, Gilpin NW, Avegno EM (2023). Quantitative analysis of gene expression in RNAscope-processed brain tissue. Bio-protocol, 13(0): e4580. *Selected for cover art in January 2023 issue

Avegno EM, Gilpin NW (2021). Reciprocal midbrain-extended amygdala circuit activity in preclinical models of alcohol use and misuse. Neuropharmacology, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108856.

Avegno EM, Kasten CR, Snyder III WB, Kelley LK, Lobell TD, Templeton TJ, Constans M, Wills TA, Middleton JW, Gilpin NW (2020). Alcohol dependence activates ventral tegmental area projections to central amygdala in male mice and rats. Addiction Biology, doi: 10.1111/(ISSN)1369-1600. 

Avegno EM, Middleton JW, Gilpin NW (2019). Synaptic GABAergic transmission in the central amygdala (CeA) of rats depends on slice preparation and recording conditions. Physiological Reports 7(19): e14245.

Avegno EM, Lobell TD, Itoga CA, Baynes BB, Whitaker AM, Weera MM, Edwards S, Middleton J, Gilpin NW (2018). Central amygdala circuits mediate hyperalgesia in alcohol-dependent rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 38, 7761-7773.

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

Brain Stress and Reward System Interactions in Alcohol Dependence. The neural adaptations that define excessive alcohol drinking in alcohol dependent individuals may include interactions between mesolimbic reward circuits and brain stress circuits. We are currently characterizing the ventral tegmental area (VTA) – central amygdala (CeA) circuit in both mice and rats by combining retro- and anterograde tracing, immunohistochemical, electrophysiological, and optogenetic techniques. Chronic intermittent exposure (CIE) to ethanol vapor is used to induce dependence in both mice and rats, and ongoing experiments are investigating alterations in this circuit following alcohol dependence, as well as the role of this circuit in alcohol dependence-associated behaviors.

Effects of Early Life Adversity and Adolescent Alcohol Use on Neural Circuits. Early life stress (ELS) exposure and early initiation of alcohol drinking are both independently associated with an increased risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD) in later life in humans. ELS increases alcohol consumption in adolescent humans, and given the existing relationship between earlier age of onset of drinking and increased propensity to develop AUD in adulthood, ELS and adolescent drinking may have additive effects on alcohol drinking and the risk of developing AUD in adulthood. Previous research has focused on the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure on the sensitivity of VTA neurons to ethanol. Ongoing research interests continue to investigate neural adaptations following ELS and/or adolescent alcohol exposure in both brain stress and reward circuits.

Avegno Lab