Kristen Pleil

Kristen Pleil is an Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, affiliated with the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience. She serves as Co-director of the NIGMS-sponsored Training in Pharmacological Sciences (TIPS) predoctoral T32 program.

• Academic Appointments: Assistant Professor (2016), Associate Professor (2021)
• Education: BA in Psychology (Emory University, 2005), PhD in Neuroscience (Duke University, 2010), Postdoc at University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Research Focus:
The Pleil lab investigates how sex and stress hormones regulate alcohol/substance use, stress responsivity, and affective behavior through neuropeptidergic brain circuits and hormone-neuropeptide signaling. Key projects include estrogen's role in alcohol drinking and anxiety, opioid receptor signaling in reward/aversion learning, and sex-dependent thalamic control of stress responses. The lab uses in vivo and ex vivo mouse models to study synaptic/epigenetic plasticity across developmental stages.

Publications Trends:
Her work spans molecular pharmacology, neurophysiology, and addiction research with a focus on sex differences in neuropsychiatric diseases. Articles cover topics like estrogen signaling in binge drinking, opioid-context memory, thalamic circuits in stress response, and optogenetic tools for receptor imaging.

Scientific Awards:

• President’s Young Investigator Award, ISBRA (2013)
• Elizabeth Young New Investigator Award, OSSD (2015)
• K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, NIAAA (2015)
• Kellen Foundation Junior Faculty Fellowship (2016)
• NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2017)
• Early Career Investigator Award, NIDA-NIAAA (2017)

Training and Collaborations:
As Co-director of the TIPS T32 program, she mentors graduate students in pharmacological sciences. Her collaborations include researchers at UNC, Duke, and Weill Cornell, with grants from NIAAA, NIMH, and NIGMS.