Matthew J. Will

Matthew J. Will is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he leads the Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory. His research focuses on motivational circuits underlying drug and natural rewards including food and exercise.

Dr. Will earned his B.A. from St. John's University (MN), followed by his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

His laboratory applies behavioral neuroscience methods to study neural systems mediating motivational aspects of drugs of abuse and natural rewards. Research addresses these concerns through an integrative approach combining behavioral, pharmacological, and molecular biological techniques. Key research areas include investigating neural networks mediating homeostatic vs. hedonic feeding, motivational systems regulating voluntary exercise and drugs of abuse, prenatal influences on neurodevelopmental disorders, and sigma-1 receptor function in food and drug motivation.

Analysis of Dr. Will's recent publications reveals consistent focus on sex differences in reward processing, with particular attention to opioid and dopamine pathways in the nucleus accumbens. His work increasingly incorporates genetic and epigenetic approaches while maintaining strong behavioral neuroscience methodology. Recent publications show expanded collaboration across engineering disciplines for advanced neural recording techniques.

Dr. Will maintains active collaborations with researchers including Dr. Miller (sigma receptor research), Dr. Booth and Dr. Vieira-Potter (physical activity research), and Dr. Beversdorf (neurodevelopmental disorders research). His laboratory has produced numerous publications on the intersection of drug addiction and obesity research, with particular emphasis on sex-dependent mechanisms.

The Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory maintains four primary research projects: investigating neural networks mediating feeding behavior, studying motivational systems regulating exercise and drug rewards, examining prenatal influences on neurodevelopment, and exploring sigma-1 receptor function in reward processing. The lab employs animal models to understand how rewarding substances and events interact to produce dysregulated behaviors leading to addiction and obesity.