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Dr. Abraham A. Palmer – ICAN Seminar Series
NBB Presents: ICAN Seminar Series
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
11:00AM – 12:00PM
The seminar will be live streamed via Zoom and In-Person.
Abraham A. Palmer, Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego
Professor & Vice Chair for Basic Research
“Genetic approaches to understanding substance use disorders and other psychiatric and behavioral traits using humans and rodents”
Abstract: The risk for substance use disorders and other psychiatric disease are influenced by genetic differences among individuals. Understanding how genes confer risk, and which specific gene confer risk, can help to define these phenotypes and may also identify novel targets for future therapeutics. Using a combination of human and non-human models, Dr. Palmer will introduce the audience to basic genetic concepts and describe how these techniques are beginning to elucidate the genetic basis of behavior.
Bio: Dr. Palmer earned his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Chicago (1992). He then earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science at the University of California San Diego (1999), where he studied the interaction of genes and behavior in rats. Dr. Palmer then did a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral genetics at Oregon Health Sciences University, followed by a second postdoctoral fellowship in genetics and genomics at Columbia University, where he was subsequently promoted to Research Scientist (2004). In 2005 Dr. Palmer returned to the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor of Human Genetics with a joint appointment in Psychiatry. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and to Full Professor in 2015. In 2016, Dr. Palmer moved to UCSD where is now Professor and Vice Chair for Basic Science in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Palmer’s research uses humans, rats, mice and zebrafish to discover genes that influence variability in behavioral phenotypes (www.palmerlab.org). His use of animal models is intended to elucidate the mechanisms by which specific genes influence behavior at the molecular, cellular and neuroanatomical levels. Dr. Palmer has published over 221 papers and book chapters. He has received grants from the National Institutes for Drug Abuse (NIDA), Mental Health (NIMH), Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) and from private foundations including the Schweppe Foundation and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. He is currently the PI of a NIDA-funded P50 National Center of Excellence (www.ratgenes.org) as well as several R01s and U01 grants. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has received various awards and recognitions, including the 2020 IBANGS Senior Investigator Award and the 2022 UC San Diego Health Sciences Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Award. LEARN MORE