My primary discipline is neuroscience, and my major areas of technical expertise are in molecular pharmacology, molecular biology, and animal behavior. My laboratory studies pain and addiction-related behaviors in mice and rats using a variety of molecular (gene targeting and editing, transgenic expression, RNA interference, RNAseq) and circuit mapping (electrophysiology, optogenetics, immunohistochemistry) techniques. The goal of our work is to discover new drug targets for treating addictive disorders and chronic pain. My research has led to ongoing collaborative efforts with medical chemists to develop inhibitors of protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε) as treatments for chronic pain and alcohol use disorder.