Alejandra Lopez

Research Interests

Alejandra Lopez graduated from Boston University in 2016 with a B.A in Neuroscience. At BU, Alex worked in Dr. Sam Ling’s Visual Neuroscience Laboratory where she worked on a project that evaluated crowding in visual working memory. After graduation, she worked as a laboratory manager and research assistant in Dr. Laura O’Dell’s Neural Basis of Addiction Laboratory at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). There, she primarily worked on a project aimed at characterizing the effects of a stress hormone (corticotropin releasing factor, CRF) in the context of reward related behaviors mediated by mesolimbic reward structures including the Nucleus Accumbens and the Ventral Tegmental Area in a sex-dependent manner.

Alex joined the Bonci Laboratory in August 2017 as a postbac IRTA fellow through the Scientific Director Fellowship for Diversity in Research program. In the Bonci lab, she works on several projects aimed primarily at investigating how endogenous aversive opioid systems, monoamines, and aversive experiences affect information flow into the Nucleus Accumbens. Based on her scientific interest delineated over preclinical research into the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in animal models mimicking neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and addiction, she is planning to attend medical school to become a neuropsychiatrist and pursue translational research into the treatment of these disorders.