# Determining the contribution of pathway-specific neural activity to individual and sex differences in the attribution of salience to emotional cues

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $42,094

## Abstract

Abstract
This proposal describes a 3-year training program for the development of an academic career in the research
of psychiatric disease. The candidate is a rising third-year graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate
Program at the University of Michigan, studying addiction- and PTSD-related behaviors in rats. She obtained
degrees in Neuroscience and Animal Science from Virginia Tech while pursuing undergraduate research in
behavioral neuroscience before beginning her PhD in neuroscience. To further develop the requisite skills for
success in this field, she has identified 3 training objectives: 1) learn to perform behavioral neuroscience
experiments and to use chemogenetic and fiber photometry techniques, 2) become competent in designing,
analyzing, and interpreting studies and expand foundational research knowledge, and 3) obtain professional
development experience such as scientific communication and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.
The project will take place under the auspices of the Department of Psychiatry and the Neuroscience Graduate
Program at the University of Michigan. This vigorous research environment includes ample access to
behavioral testing facilities, animal housing, surgical equipment, histology and microscopy resources, and it
nurtures an expanding group of both basic and translational addiction researchers. The primary mentors are
Dr. Jonathan Morrow, who has expertise in Pavlovian conditioning paradigms and the study of individual
differences, Dr. Jill Becker, who brings many years of expertise in addiction neuroscience and rigorous study of
sex differences, Dr. Shelly Flagel, who has published extensively in Pavlovian conditioned and chemogenetic
approaches, and Dr. Christian Burgess, who has experience with fiber photometry methods. Dr. Daniel
Leventhal, who is an expert in machine learning and DeepLabCut software, will serve as an Other Significant
Contributor (OSC). The proposed research project focuses on shared mechanisms that can confer vulnerability
to addiction and commonly comorbid psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. This will be
achieved by using viral delivery of designer receptors to gain control over specific neural pathways involved in
both appetitive and aversive conditioning, as well as using fiber photometry to record from these pathways
during conditioning. Because psychiatric vulnerabilities differ among indivSjeiduals and between the sexes,
these experiments will be designed to examine the interplay between biological sex, functional activity in
specific neural circuits, and natural phenotypic variations in cue-driven learning. The proposed F31 project is
well-aligned with the missions of the NIH and NIDA. The project will train a promising scientist and help clarify
neurobiological pathways contributing to addiction and frequently co-occuring disorders, which is a significant
public health priority.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10820668
- **Project number:** 1F31DA058358-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Frankie Nicole Czesak
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $42,094
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-03-01 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10820668

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10820668, Determining the contribution of pathway-specific neural activity to individual and sex differences in the attribution of salience to emotional cues (1F31DA058358-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10820668. Licensed CC0.

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