Graduate Studies Faculty

Major Areas
Behavioral genetics, drug abuse, neuroimaging, psychopharmacology

Previous Positions
Assistant Professor, University of California-San Francisco
Assistant/Associate Professor, University of Cincinnati
Associate Professor/Professor, SUNY at Stony Brook

Education
B.S. (1967) Albion College
M.S. (1970) Wayne State University
Ph.D. (1975) University of California-San Francisco

Research Interests
The goal of our research is to understand how genes regulate complex behaviors, particularly complex drug-induced behaviors. The behaviors of interest include the stimulant response to ethanol, haloperidol-induced catalepsy, exploratory behavior, acoustic startle and prepulse inhibition. The genetic dimensions of these behaviors can be studied in laboratory animals (generally mice) using classical genetic techniques such as selective breeding and recombinant inbred strategies. Molecular genetic strategies can then be used to map the relevant gene loci and eventually isolate the relevant genes. Recent studies have shown that a single base pair substitution in Cas1is associated with marked differences in ethanol response. Cas1 is the gene that codes for catalase, an enzyme responsible, in part, for brain ethanol metabolism.

For each of the behaviors studied in the laboratory, the basal ganglia and the limbic system exert an important regulatory role. A secondary goal of our research is to investigate how genetic factors affect the functional organization of these structures. There is a particular interest in the regulation of neurotransmitter receptor and transporter density and the pattern of neuropeptide connections within the brain. Immunocytochemical techniques are also used to map the brain regions activated (and inhibited) by various behavioral paradigms and drug treatments.

Selected Recent Publications
Hitzemann R , Reed C, Malmanger B, Lawler M, Hitzemann B, Cunningham B, McWeeney S, Belknap J, Harrington C, Buck K, Phillips T, Crabbe J (2004) On the integration of alcohol-related quantitative trait loci and gene expression analyses . Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research . Vol 28, Nov 10, pp 1437-1448.

Goldstein RZ, Leskovjan AC, Hoff AL, Hitzemann R , Bashan F, Khalsa SS, Wang GJ, Fowler JS, Volkow ND (2004) Severity of neuropsychological impairment in cocaine and alcohol addiction: association with metabolism in the prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologia . 42(11): 1447-58.

Thanos PK, Taintor NB, Rivera SN, Umegaki H, Ikari H, Roth G, Ingram DK, Hitzemann R , Fowler JS, Gatley SJ, Wang GJ, Volkow ND (2004) DRD2 gene transfer into the nucleus accumbens core of the alcohol preferring and nonpreferring rats attenuates alcohol drinking. Alcohol Clin Exp Res . May;28(5):720-8.

Wang GJ, Volkow ND, Chang L, Miller E, Sedler M, Hitzemann R , Zhu W, Logan J, Ma Y, Fowler JS (2004) Partial recovery of brain metabolism in methamphetamine abusers after protracted abstinence. Am J Psychia 161:242-8.

Jones BC, Reed CL , Hitzemann R , Wiesinger JA, McCarthy KA, Buwen JP, Beard JL. (2003) Quantitative genetic analysis of ventral midbrain and liver iron in BXD recombinant inbred mice. Nutr Neurosci . Dec;6(6):369-77.

Flaherty L, Abiola L, Angel J... Himmelbauer H, Hitzemann R , Hsu HC... et al. (2003) The nature and identification of quantitative trait loci: a community's view. Nature Genetics Review . Nov;4(11):911-6.

Hitzemann R , Malmanger B, Reed C, Lawler M et al. (2003) A strategy for the integration of QTL, gene expression and sequence analyses. Mammalian Genome . Nov;14(11):733-47.

Talbot CJ, Radcliff RA, Fullerton J, Hitzemann R , Wehner JM, Flint J (2003) Fine scale mapping of a genetic locus for conditioned fear. Mammalian Genome 14: 223-230.

Hitzemann R , Hitzemann B, Rivera S, Gately J, Thanos P, Siming Shou LL and Williams RW (2003) Dopamine D2 receptor binding, Drd2 expression and the number of dopamine neurons in the BXD recombinant inbred series: genetic relationships to alcohol and other drug related phenotypes. Alcoholism Clin Exp Res , 27: 1-11.

Hitzemann R , Malmanger B, Cooper S, Coulombe S, Reed C, Demarest K, Koyner J, Cipp L, Flint J, Talbot C, Rademacher B, Buck K, McCaughran J (2002) Multiple cross mapping (MCM) markedly improves the localization of a QTL for ethanol-induced activation. Genes, Brain and Behavior 1:214-222.