{"id":9709,"date":"2025-03-13T08:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T12:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/?page_id=9709"},"modified":"2025-03-13T09:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:32:01","slug":"giancarlo-tirado-acevedo-2023-2025","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/giancarlo-tirado-acevedo-2023-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Giancarlo Tirado-Acevedo (2023-2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\tHome Research\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2> <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n <\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mentor\/s:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Roberto Rodriguez Morales, PhD<\/span><\/span> Carlos Jimenez, PhD and Cristhian Calo<\/span><\/span>, PhD<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Project Title:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reward Anticipation Reduced H-Current in Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons<\/span><\/span>
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Project Description:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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My research focuses on understanding how drug-paired cues influence the intrinsic properties of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) during cocaine administration. Using an intermittent self-administration (<\/span>IntA<\/span>) paradigm, our lab previously found that cocaine intake reduces the hyperpolarization-<\/span>activate d<\/span> cyclic nucleotide current (<\/span>Ih<\/span>) and membrane capacitance (Cm) of VTA DA neurons, enhancing synaptic integration. To explore the role of associative learning, we compared three animal groups: cocaine and saline <\/span>IntA<\/span> and cocaine yoked cue. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings revealed that voluntary cocaine intake, paired with cues, significantly reduces <\/span>Ih<\/span> and increases temporal summation. These findings suggest that drug-associated cues modulate the excitability of VTA DA neurons, providing insight into the neural mechanisms underlying substance use disorder.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\tSummer Research\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2> <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n <\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mentor\/s:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mathew Wilson, PhD and Pedro Feliciano<\/span><\/span>, PhD<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Project Title:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Investigating Scale-Dependent Learning in the Barnes Maze<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Project Description:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This summer, I worked on an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project under Dr. Pedro Feliciano, investigating scale-dependent spatial learning in mice using the Barnes maze. Our study explored how maze size influences spatial navigation strategies by comparing mice performance in two different maze sizes (<\/span>61.5 cm<\/span> and <\/span>122.5 cm<\/span> in diameter). Using <\/span>DeepLabCut<\/span> for behavioral tracking, we analyzed search patterns, errors, and goal-finding times. Our findings aim to highlight how environmental scale affects learning and whether prior experience in a larger maze enhances performance in a smaller one, <\/span>providing<\/span> new insights into spatial cognition.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Home Research Mentor\/s:\u00a0 Roberto Rodriguez Morales, PhD Carlos Jimenez, PhD and Cristhian Calo, PhD\u00a0 Project Title:\u00a0 Reward Anticipation Reduced H-Current in Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons Project Description:\u00a0 My research focuses on understanding how drug-paired cues influence the intrinsic properties of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) during cocaine administration. Using an intermittent self-administration … <\/p>\n

Read more “Giancarlo Tirado-Acevedo (2023-2025)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9709","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NeuroID Program","author_link":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/author\/neuroid\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":null,"rttpg_excerpt":"Home Research Mentor\/s:\u00a0 Roberto Rodriguez Morales, PhD Carlos Jimenez, PhD and Cristhian Calo, PhD\u00a0 Project Title:\u00a0 Reward Anticipation Reduced H-Current in Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons Project Description:\u00a0 My research focuses on understanding how drug-paired cues influence the intrinsic properties of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) during cocaine administration. Using an intermittent self-administration…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9709"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9717,"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9709\/revisions\/9717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroid.uprrp.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}