Jessica Barson

Jessica Barson, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and Assistant Dean for Mentoring and Support at Drexel University College of Medicine. Her work focuses on understanding the neural basis of addiction, particularly alcohol use disorder and binge eating disorder, with an emphasis on neuropeptide interactions in the limbic system.

Education: PhD in Neuroscience from Princeton University (2009). Postdoctoral training at The Rockefeller University. She leads the Barson Lab, employing advanced techniques like chemogenetics, viral gene manipulation, and behavioral assays to study addiction mechanisms.

Research Interests: Investigates sex differences and individual variability in addiction, focusing on the paraventricular thalamus (PVT), nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex. Techniques include quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry, and operant self-administration models.

Recent Work: Explores PACAP's role in ethanol drinking and affective behavior, kappa opioid receptor effects on dopamine, and neurotensin's inhibition of ethanol intake. Her studies highlight the PVT as a key node in emotional processing and addiction pathways.

• Awards: 2024 Early Career Mentoring Award (Drexel), 2023 Provost Award for Scholarly Productivity
• Funding: NIH R01 grants (AA028228, AA028218), Pfizer Obesity ASPIRE Grant

Lab Team: Mentors graduate and master's students (e.g., Brody Carpenter, Cydney Martin) and oversees research on addiction heterogeneity and precision medicine approaches.