Assistant Professor
Research Areas: Circuit mechanisms that regulate motivated behavior and addiction with a specific focus on subcircuits in the interconnected nuclei of the ventral basal ganglia.

Biography

Dr. Heinsbroek joined the UAB Department of Neurobiology in 2023.

Research Interests

My research interests focus on the neural coding of reward and motivation in the interconnected nuclei of the ventral basal ganglia and the regulation of motivated behavior by distinct subcircuits within this network. The ventral basal ganglia are an integral part of the brain reward system and the functioning of this system is disrupted in psychiatric disorders of motivation, including addiction and depression. My research thus far has focused extensively on two distinct striatopallidal systems, first-order projections within the ventral basal ganglia that oppositely regulate motivated states. Drug use reduces the functioning of synapses in the limiter pathway, thus potentiating the motivation to seek drugs and increasing the risk of relapse. Another important aspect of my research is focused on the roles of distinct downstream pallidal subcircuits and their regulation of motivation and drug relapse. These research projects are federally funded by NIDA and the NIH Common Fund.

Education

BS in Biomedical Science, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
MS in Neuroscience, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina

Contact

Email
jheinsbroek@uab.edu