Regina M. Carelli

Regina M. Carelli is the Stephen B. Baxter Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. Her research focuses on neural mechanisms underlying reward processing, addiction, and the transition to maladaptive behaviors in substance use disorders. She employs multidisciplinary methods including optogenetics, calcium imaging, and non-invasive brain stimulation (tACS) in rodent models to study reward circuits, negative affect, and cocaine addiction.

Her work examines how drug-associated cues induce conditioned aversion and dysphoria, and how these states drive compulsive drug-seeking. Collaborations, such as with Dr. Flavio Frohlich on translational tACS therapies, aim to address treatment gaps in addiction. Key research areas include neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and insula, with emphasis on sex differences and translational neuroscience.

• Research Themes: Reward processing, addiction neurobiology, neural circuits, non-invasive stimulation.
• Methods: Optogenetics, electrophysiology, FSCV, calcium imaging, rodent behavioral models.

Her recent articles highlight advances in understanding cocaine-induced neuroadaptations, the role of prelimbic/infralimbic cortices in addiction, and the therapeutic potential of tACS. Awards include the Stephen B. Baxter Distinguished Professorship.

Lab activities emphasize translational approaches, bridging basic neuroscience with clinical applications for substance use disorders.