Abstract: While urges to eat are regulated by hunger, satiety, and energy demand, they are also strongly influenced by sights, sounds, and smells that are associated with food (food cues). Dr. Ferrario’s lab examines the neurobiological mechanisms of cue-triggered food craving and how these processes are influenced by consumption of sugary, fatty, “junk-food” diets and individual susceptibility to obesity. Her studies use a variety of approaches in preclinical models including behavior, biochemistry, and slice electrophysiology. In her talk, she will discuss how alterations in excitatory transmission within the brain's reward pathway influence cue-triggered food seeking behavior, and the relationship of these neurobehavioral alterations to aberrant vs. normative reward-seeking behaviors that contribute to obesity.