Pahng, Amanda R., PhD

Instructor-Research (gratis), LSU Health New Orleans

Research Health Scientist
Southeast Louisiana Veterans Heath Care System
2400 Canal Street (11F)
New Orleans, LA 70119
Phone: 504-507-2000, ext. 67374

apahng@lsuhsc.edu
Amanda.Pahng@va.gov

Degrees

BS in Psychology, Minor in Statistics, The University of Georgia. 2005-2009
PhD in Neuroscience, Tulane University. 2009-2015

Bio

Postdoctoral training (Laboratory of Scott Edwards), Department of Physiology, LSU Health New Orleans. 2015-2020

Research Interests

Dr. Pahng’s research interests are in understanding the neurobiological and behavioral interactions of pain and drug abuse liability. Specifically, she investigates how altered signaling in reward- and pain-related circuitry contributes to excessive drug intake and hyperalgesia (heightened pain sensitivity) in the development of disease states, namely drug addiction and chronic pain. She has particular interests in examining how underlying pain conditions can contribute to excessive opioid or alcohol use. Her current research is focused on the role of mesolimbic dopamine in pain and prescription opioid addiction.

Teaching Activities

Teaching Areas of Expertise: Neuroscience, Addiction, Pain, Learning & Memory

Selected Publications

Edwards S, Callicoatte CN, Barattini AE, Cucinello-Ragland JA, Melain A, Edward KN, Gilpin NW, Avegno EM, & Pahng AR (2022). Pramipexole treatment attenuates mechanical hypersensitivity in male rats experiencing chronic inflammatory pain. Neuropharmacology. PMID: 35085583

Bazan HA*, Bhattacharjee S*, Burgos C, Recio J, Abet V, Pahng AR, Jun B, Heap J, Ledet AJ, Gordon WC, Edwards S, Paul D, Alvarez-Builla J, & Bazan NG (2020). A novel pipeline of non-narcotic analgesics that lack hepatotoxicity and retain antipyresis. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 202:112600. *B.H. and S.B. contributed equally to this work. PMID: 32629335

Pahng AR, Paulsen RI, McGinn MA, Farooq MA, Edward KN, & Edwards S (2019). Dysregulation of c-jun n-terminal kinase phosphorylation in alcohol dependence. Alcohol. 75: 11-18. PMID: 30321699

Pahng AR, & Edwards (2018). Measuring pain avoidance-like behavior in drug-dependent rats. Current Protocols in Neuroscience.85(1), e53. PMID: 30248240

Pahng AR, Paulsen RI, McGinn MA, Edward KN, & Edwards S (2017). Neurobiological correlates of pain avoidance-Like behavior in morphine-dependent and non-dependent rats. Neuroscience. 366: 1-14. PMID: 29024786

Pahng AR, McGinn MA, Paulsen RI, & Edwards S (2017). The prefrontal cortex as a critical gate of negative affect in alcohol use disorder. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 13: 139-143. PMID: 28111628

Pahng AR & Colombo PJ (2017). Phosphorylation of tyrosine receptor kinase B in the dorsal striatum and dorsal hippocampus is associated with response learning in a water plus maze. Behavioral Neuroscience. 131(1): 33-41. PMID: 28004953

McGinn MA & Pahng AR (2017). Pathophysiology of affective disorders: Functional interaction of stress hormones and hippocampal excitation. Journal of Neurophysiology. 117: 477-479. PMID: 27169510

Yang H, *Hou H, *Pahng AR, Gu H, Nairn AC, Tang Y, Colombo PJ, & Xia H (2015). Protein phosphatase-1 inhibitor-2 is a novel memory suppressor. The Journal of Neuroscience. 35(45): 15082-15087. *H.H. and A.P. contributed equally to this work. PMID: 26558779

Kathirvelu B, East BS, Hill AR, Smith CA, and Colombo PJ (2013). Lentivirus-mediated chronic expression of dominant-negative CREB in the dorsal hippocampus impairs memory for place learning and contextual fear conditioning. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 99: 10-16. PMID: 23110949

Additional Info

Curriculum Vitae

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