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Senior Investigator

Yavin Shaham, Ph.D.

Behavioral Neuroscience Branch


Room 08A711
251 Bayview Blvd Suite 200
Baltimore MD 21224
Office: 443-740-2723
Lab: 443-740-2723

Yshaham@intra.nida.nih.gov

Yavin Shaham, Ph.D., Branch Chief, Behavioral Neuroscience Branch and Section Chief, Neurobiology of Relapse Section, NIDA.


Ph.D.: 1992, Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland


M.A.: 1988, Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel


B.S.: 1986, Biology & Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel




Dr. Shaham’s lab uses rat models to study the cellular and neuroanatomical mechanisms that underlie relapse to drug and aggression seeking. Working with the In-vivo Electrophysiology Unit led by Dr. Eugene Kiyatkin, the lab also studies neurophysiological mechanisms of addictive drugs and motivated behavior.
Current projects of the Shaham group:

  • Incubation of drug craving after forced or voluntary abstinence
  • Context-induced relapse to drug seeking after punishment or extinction
  • Aggression addiction and relapse

Current projects of the Eugene Kiyatkin group (In-vivo Electrophysiology Unit):

  • Physiological analysis of motivated behavior using single-unit recording, iontophoresis, EEG/EMG, brain thermorecording, and glutamate electrochemistry
  • Neurophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms of action of drugs of abuse (cocaine, nicotine)
  • Alterations in blood-brain barrier in normal brain functions and during drug intoxication
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  • 1) Venniro M, Caprioli D, Zhang M, Whitaker LR, Zhang S, Warren BL, Cifani C, Marchant NJ, Yizhar O, Bossert JM, Chiamulera C, Morales M, Shaham Y (2017)
  • The Anterior Insular Cortex→Central Amygdala Glutamatergic Pathway Is Critical to Relapse after Contingency Management
  • Neuron, 2017 Oct 11;96(2):414-427.e8.
  • 2) Golden SA, Heins C, Venniro M, Caprioli D, Zhang M, Epstein DH, Shaham Y (2017)
  • Compulsive Addiction-like Aggressive Behavior in Mice
  • Biol Psychiatry, 2017 Mar 17. pii: S0006-3223(17)31359-8, doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.03.004
  • 3) Caprioli D, Venniro M, Zhang M, Bossert JM, Warren BL, Hope BT, Shaham Y (2017)
  • Role of Dorsomedial Striatum Neuronal Ensembles in Incubation of Methamphetamine Craving after Voluntary Abstinence.
  • J Neurosci, 2017 Jan 25;37(4):1014-1027. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSC
  • 4) Bossert JM, Stern AL, Theberge FR, Marchant MJ, Wang HL, Morales M, Shaham Y (2016)
  • Role of projections from ventral subiculum to nucleus accumbens shell in context-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking in rats
  • Psychopharmacology (Berl), 2016 May;233(10):1991-2004. doi: 10.1007/s00213-01, Epub 2015 Sep 7
  • 5) Heilig M, Epstein DH, Nader MA, Shaham Y (2016)
  • Time to connect: bringing social context into addiction neuroscience
  • Nat Rev Neurosci, . 2016 Sep;17(9):592-9. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.67.
  • 6) Marchant NJ, Campbell EJ, Whitaker LR, Harvey BK, Kaganovsky K, Adhikary S, Hope BT, Heins RC, Prisinzano TE, Vardy E, Bonci A, Bossert JM, Shaham Y (2016)
  • Role of Ventral Subiculum in Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol Seeking after Punishment-Imposed Abstinence
  • J Neurosci, 2016 Mar 16;36(11):3281-94. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI
  • 7) Caprioli D, Venniro M, Zeric T, Li X, Adhikary S, Madangopal R, Marchant NJ, Lucantonio F, Schoenbaum G, Bossert JM, Shaham Y (2015)
  • Effect of the Novel Positive Allosteric Modulator of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 AZD8529 on Incubation of Methamphetamine Craving After Prolonged Voluntary Abstinence in a Rat Model
  • Biol Psychiatry, 2015 Oct 1;78(7):463-73. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2
  • 8) Li X, Rubio FJ, Zeric T, Bossert JM, Kambhampati S, Cates HM, Kennedy PJ, Liu QR, Cimbro R, Hope BT, Nestler EJ, Shaham Y (2015)
  • Incubation of methamphetamine craving is associated with selective increases in expression of Bdnf and trkb, glutamate receptors, and epigenetic enzymes in cue-activated fos-expressing dorsal striatal neurons
  • J Neurosci, 2015 May 27;35(21):8232-44, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1022-15.2015
  • 9) Marchant NJ, Rabei R, Kaganovsky K, Caprioli D, Bossert JM, Bonci A, Shaham Y (2014)
  • A critical role of lateral hypothalamus in context-induced relapse to alcohol seeking after punishment-imposed abstinence
  • J Neurosci, . 2014 May 28;34(22):7447-57. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROS
  • 10) Bossert JM, Stern AL, Theberge FR, Cifani C, Koya E, Hope BT, Shaham Y (2011)
  • Ventral medial prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles mediate context-induced relapse to heroin
  • Nat Neurosci, 2011 Apr;14(4):420-2, doi: 10.1038/nn.2758. Epub 2011 Feb 20
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