Rachel Smith
  • BCN Area Coordinator
  • Associate Professor
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Research Areas
  • Affective Science
  • Behavioral & Cellular Neuroscience

Biography

Office Hours: Available by appointment

Accepting Students for 2026-2027?: Yes

Memberships: Institute for Neuroscience

Professional Links: PubMed

Research Interests

My primary research interests are the neurobiological mechanisms of drug addiction and the compulsive behaviors and maladaptive habits associated with this psychiatric disorder.  A central theme of my research thus far has been investigating the neurocircuitry and transmitter systems underlying drug seeking.  The lab uses animal models of addiction, including the rat self-administration paradigm.  We analyze behavior and neural circuits related to addiction, and make use of tools in pharmacology, immunohistochemistry, anatomical tracing, and optogenetics/DREADDs.

Affiliated Research Cluster

Neuroscience & Affective Science. Neural mechanisms underlying drug addiction and relapse; maladaptive behavior; rodent models.

Selected Publications

    • Jones BO, Spencer HF, Cruz AM, Paladino MS, Handel SN, Smith RJ (2024) Random interval schedule of reinforcement influences punishment resistance for cocaine in rats. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 213:107961.
    • Jones BO, Paladino MS, Cruz AM, Spencer HF, Kahanek PL, Scarborough LN, Georges SF, Smith RJ (2024) Punishment resistance for cocaine is associated with inflexible habits in rats. Addiction Neuroscience 11:100148.
    • Handel SN, Smith RJ (2024) Making and breaking habits: Revisiting the definitions and behavioral factors that influence habits in animals. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 121(1):8-26.
    • Gangal H, Xie X, Huang Z, Cheng Y, Wang X, Lu J, Zhuang X, Essoh A, Huang Y, Chen R, Smith LN, Smith RJ, Wang J (2023) Drug reinforcement impairs cognitive flexibility by inhibiting striatal cholinergic neurons. Nature Communications 14(1):3886.
    • Jones BO, Cruz AM, Kim TH, Spencer HF, Smith RJ (2022) Discriminating goal-directed and habitual cocaine seeking in rats using a novel outcome devaluation procedure. Learning & Memory 29:447-457.
    • Ma T, Huang Z, Xie X, Cheng Y, Zhuang X, Childs MJ, Gangal H, Wang X, Smith LN, Smith RJ, Zhou Y, Wang J (2022) Chronic alcohol drinking persistently suppresses thalamostriatal excitation of cholinergic neurons to impair cognitive flexibility. Journal of Clinical Investigation 132(4):e154969.
    • Cruz AM, Spencer HF, Kim TH, Jhou TC, Smith RJ. Prelimbic cortical projections to rostromedial tegmental nucleus play a suppressive role in cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Jul;46(8):1399-1406. doi: 10.1038/s41386-020-00909-z.
    • Cruz AM, Kim TH, Smith RJ. Monosynaptic Retrograde Tracing From Prelimbic Neuron Subpopulations Projecting to Either Nucleus Accumbens Core or Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus. Front Neural Circuits. 2021;15:639733. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2021.639733.
    • Smith RJ, Vento PJ, Chao YS, Good CH, Jhou TC. Gene expression and neurochemical characterization of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) in rats and mice. Brain Struct Funct. 2019 Jan;224(1):219-238. doi: 10.1007/s00429-018-1761-7.
    • Smith RJ, Laiks LS. Behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying habitual and compulsive drug seeking. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Dec 20;87(Pt A):11-21. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.09.003.
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