Emma V. Frye, B.S.

Research Interests

Emma Frye joined the lab in January 2021 after graduating from Appalachian State University with a degree in Psychology with a concentration in Natural Sciences and minors in Chemistry and Spanish. Her undergraduate research focused on the effects of estrogen on vascular stiffness following an acute hypertensive stressor and how this may be differently modulated in males and females. Emma’s long-term research interests are focused on understanding the neurobiological context in which substance misuse occurs and the association of acute and chronic pain with opioid misuse. She is also a leader of the Clinical Mentoring Program where she conducts on-site labs, health history, and physicals for study participants, and in the future, she would like to continue translational research into a clinical environment. Under her mentor, Dr. Renata C. N. Marchette, Emma is currently investigating the role of neuropeptides such as dynorphin in driving compulsive-like drug taking and opioid withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia and as well investigating the mechanisms of opioid-induced respiratory depression and seeking novel therapeutics to reverse opioid overdoses.