Nathalie Ginovart
Affiliations: Department of Basic Neurosciences, Department of Psychiatry
Group name: Individual Differences and Vulnerability to Addiction
Domains: Attention and Cognition
Keywords: addictive behaviors, behavioral addiction
Research activities
Understanding how and why certain individuals have a greater propensity to develop addictive behaviors remains a major challenge in neuroscience. Our lab is interested in investigating the risk factors and underlying neural correlates conferring a predisposition to addictive disorders (drug and behavioral addictions) and related neuropsychiatric illnesses. More specifically, we focus on understanding the contribution and interplay of behavioral trait variables considered important in the psychopathologies of addictions – impulsivity, novelty seeking and risky-decision making – and neurochemical dysregulations of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system to the development of addictive disorders. We use a cross-species translational approach combining behavioral testing with in vivo molecular imaging techniques in human and animal models, associated with pharmacological and genetic tools in rodents
Latest publications
Dynamic image denoising for voxel-wise quantification with Statistical Parametric Mapping in molecular neuroimaging.
Dual-radiotracer translational SPECT neuroimaging. Comparison of three methods for the simultaneous brain imaging of D and 5-HT receptors.
Different effects of chronic THC on the neuroadaptive response of dopamine D2/3 receptor-mediated signaling in roman high- and roman low-avoidance rats.
A single-scan protocol for absolute D receptor quantification with [I]IBZM SPECT.
Contact
Département de psychiatrie
Département des neurosciences fondamentales
HUG
Email: Nathalie.Ginovart@unige.ch