CCB Postdoc Fellow Alumni

Dr. Loften is a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology section of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program (a joint lab with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Lorenzo Leggio. Her research focuses on translational projects investigating the role of the mineralocorticoid/aldosterone system in alcohol and substance use disorders. As part of her CCB project, Dr. Loften will examine the role of the aldosterone/mineralocorticoid system in alcohol craving and explore the potential of spironolactone, a mineralocorticoid receptor blocker, as a treatment for alcohol and other substance use disorders.

Dr. Loften received her MD from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2018. She then combined clinical work at Sahlgrenska University Hospital with PhD studies under the supervision of Dr. Mia Ericson at the Addiction Biology Unit, University of Gothenburg. She defended her thesis in May 2024. Her thesis research in experimental psychiatry focused on the role of cholinergic signaling in modulating dopamine-related effects of alcohol in rodent models.

Shirelle is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Yavin Shaham at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Her CCB project, co-mentored by Dr. Michael Michaelides, Dr. Yavin Shaham, and Dr. Brandon Harvey, focuses on heroin addiction-related behaviors, heroin-induced whole-brain activity, and neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity in the context of neuroHIV, using HIV-1 transgenic (Tg) rats.

Shirelle received her Ph.D. in Biological Psychopathology from the University of Minnesota. Her doctoral research examined transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms underlying individual differences in vulnerability to opioid use disorder in rat models.

Hector is a postdoc at the Unit for Neuromodulation and Synaptic Integration (UNSI) mentored by Dr Hugo Tejeda. His project focuses on the role of mesocortical dopamine in the resolution of approach/avoidance conflict.

He completed his PhD in the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in Dr Gregory Quirk’s lab where he focused on behavioral models of approach/avoidance conflict in rodents and non-human primates.

Dr. Leko is a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow in the Section on Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology (CPN), a joint laboratory of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (P.I.: Dr. Lorenzo Leggio). As a 2022 CCB Fellow, he will investigate the Mineralocorticoid Receptor (MR) as a novel pharmacotherapeutic target in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) by conducting a Phase 1b human laboratory study with the MR-antagonist spironolactone. The study will examine pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters of spironolactone and alcohol, during concomitant oral administration, and test the safety and tolerability of spironolactone, co-administered with alcohol, in individuals with AUD.

Dr. Leko received both his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Semmelweis University of Budapest, Hungary. His primary research focused on neural circuits responsible for maternal behavior. He identified insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) as a novel regulator of prolactin release and maternal motivation. More recently, he has applied transcriptome sequencing approaches to investigate genes responsible for maternal adaptation of the central nervous system and identified a potential role of the androgen receptor in the control of maternal behaviour. Dr. Leko began