Position
Post-bac IRTA Fellow,
Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology Section
Post-bac IRTA Fellow,
Stress and Addiction Neuroscience Unit (NIDA/NIAAA)
Contact
Biomedical Research Center251 Bayview Boulevard
Suite 200
Room 08A406
Baltimore, MD 21224
Email: zuzu.gacso@nih.gov
Research Interests
Zuzu Gacso joined CPN in June of 2025. She graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience and a minor in Sociology. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted research under Dr. Ewa Galaj, investigating mesolimbic neuroadaptations and reward-related behaviors in rat models of substance misuse. Her thesis focused on the role of cholinergic pathways in conditioned reward processing, particularly in response to chronic alcohol exposure during adolescence.
As a joint post-bacc fellow under the co-mentorship of Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, Dr. Leandro Vendruscolo, and Dr. George Koob, Zuzu will be conducting preclinical research to evaluate novel compounds for the treatment of addictive disorders.
