Marcelo Febo, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Program Director of Translational Research Imaging
Our laboratory is dedicated to the investigation of brain circuit-level functional and microstructural mechanisms involved in drug use disorders and in neurodegenerative diseases. We specifically focus on two major areas of interest. The first is to study brain network alterations induced by repeated use of drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, cannabinoids and synthetic psychoactive drugs. In these studies, the relationship between brain functional connectivity and behavioral measures reflecting, drug use, affective states or cognitive function is investigated. A second major area of interest to our laboratory is the characterization of MRI based measurements to determine early alterations in Alzheimer’s disease. In collaboration with University of Florida Department of Neuroscience faculty members, we study functional and microstructural aspects in mouse models of amyloidosis and tauopathy. A major strength of our laboratory is the use of MRI methods, such as functional and diffusion MRI, along with several behavioral assays to establish brain-behavior links in drug use disorders and in neurodegenerative diseases.