John Belknap, Ph.D.
Positions
- Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience
- Research Career Scientist, Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Research Interests
Genetics, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Statistics, Microarray Analysis, QTL Analysis, Mouse Models, Behavior
Preceptor Rotations & Mentorship Availabilty
Dr. Belknap is not available for preceptor rotations or mentorship.
Major Areas
Pharmacogenetics, Opioid Analgesia, Drug Tolerance and Dependence
Summary of Current Research
The Belknap lab is devoted to genetic studies of sensitivity to many effects of drugs subject to abuse using a wide range of genetic mouse models from knockouts to selected lines. The principal drugs for study are cocaine, methamphetamine, morphine and alcohol and the traits are those often associated with these drugs in humans, such as alcohol and morphine withdrawal, morphine analgesia, methamphetamine stereotypy, cocaine seizures and several other behaviors. One goal of this work is to detect and map to specific chromosomal regions the genes (polygenes) influencing these traits. These chromosomal regions are referred to as quantitative trait loci, or QTLs. Another goal is to determine the multiple drugs influenced by these QTLs, and how they interact with other genes (gene-gene interactions) throughout the genome. Since the organization of genes on chromosomes is highly similar between mouse and humans, mapped QTLs in the mouse often maps them in the human genome as well.
Recent Publications
See Dr. Belknap's PubMed Listing
Education
- B.A. (1966) University of Colorado
- M.A. (1969) University of Colorado
- Ph.D. (1971) University of Colorado
Previous Positions
- Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks
- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
