Jon-Kar Zubieta MD, Phd
Jon-Kar Zubieta MD PHD
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Professor, Department of Radiology
Associate Professor, Neurosciences Program
Research Professor, Molecular and Behavioral Neurosciences Institute
Director of the Psychiatry Division, University of Michigan Depression Center
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Website
Dr. Zubieta has over 15 years of experience in the use of anatomical and functional MRI, PET and SPECT for the quantification of metabolism, blood flow, and neuroreceptor sites in human subjects, the latter including cholinergic, aminergic, and opioid markers. His research focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the regulation of stress responses. He is applying this work towards the understanding of mood disorders and affective regulation, as well as conditions where physical and emotional stressors play a significant role, most notably substance abuse disorders and pain.
Recent and ongoing work includes the study of the activation of opioid and dopaminergic mechanisms during stress in humans. These studies are specifically geared towards the understanding of individual differences in stress responses and their regulation, which include sex differences and the influence of gonadal steroids, cognitive-emotional effects (e.g., the placebo effect), as well as that of common genetic polymorphisms. In parallel lines of work, neurotransmitter responses to other challenges, such as the induction of craving in substance abuse disorders and emotional challenges in patients diagnosed with mood and affective pathologies, are also being investigated. The relationship between neurotransmitter function and synaptic activity as measured by functional MRI is also part of these projects.
In the area of mood disorders, the relationship between alterations in the neuroendocrine stress axis, sleep and chronobiology and the function of the central serotonergic system also forms part of the studies examining the influence of stress on neurotransmitter function in humans.
The main goal of these studies is to provide a “systems-level” understanding of stress vulnerability and resiliency, incorporating neurochemical, functional, genetic and psychophysical information directly in humans. This information and techniques are then utilized for the translation of animal research to human experimentation, and the study of relevant patient populations, as noted above.
Talk Title: Emotion Regulation from a Molecular Perspective
Reading List – Click here for the complete PDF
- Amanzio, M. & Benedetti, F. Neuropharmacological dissection of placebo analgesia: Expectation-activated opioid systems versus conditioning-activated specific subsystems. Journal of Neuroscience 19, 484-494, 1999
- Haber, S. N. & Knutson, B. The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology 35, 4-26, doi:10.1038/npp.2009.129, 2010
- Scott, D. J., Heitzeg, M. M., Koeppe, R. A., Stohler, C. S. & Zubieta, J. K. Variations in the human pain stress experience mediated by ventral and dorsal basal ganglia dopamine activity. Journal of Neuroscience 26, 10789-10795, doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2577-06.2006, 2006
- Scott, D. J. et al. Individual differences in reward responding explain placebo-induced expectations and effects. Neuron 55, 325-336, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2007.06.028, 2007
- Scott, D. J. et al. Placebo and nocebo effects are defined by opposite opioid and dopaminergic responses. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 220-231, 2008
- Zubieta, J. K. et al. Regulation of human affective responses by anterior cingulate and limbic mu-opioid neurotransmission. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 1145-1153, 2003