- Assistant Professor
- Document: CV
- Research Website
- Behavioral & Cellular Neuroscience
Research Interests
There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for psychostimulant use disorders. A central theme of research in the Swinford-Jackson laboratory is to refine our understanding of the neurobiology underlying drug craving at the level of individual cell types and specific pathways, which may yield novel treatment targets. We use rodent behavioral models, optogenetics, virally mediated gene transfer, gene editing by Crispr-Cas9, neuropharmacology, immunohistochemistry, molecular biology, and single-cell sequencing approaches to explore the neurocircuitry and molecular mechanisms which govern drug-related behaviors, including intake and craving.
Accepting Students for 2025-2026?: Yes
Selected Publications
Full publication list available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/sarah.swinford.1/bibliography/public/
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Mankame S, Worobey SJ, Sacko TJ, Pierce RC, Swinford-Jackson SE. Differential effects of deep brain stimulation on reinstatement of cocaine seeking in male and female rats. Neurosci Lett. 2024 Jul 27;836:137888. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2024.137888. Epub 2024 Jun 28. PMID: 38945352.
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Swinford-Jackson SE, Rich MT, Huffman PJ, Knouse MC, Thomas AS, Mankame S, Worobey SJ, Pierce RC. Low frequency deep brain stimulation of nucleus accumbens shell neuronal subpopulations attenuates cocaine seeking selectively in male rats. Addict Neurosci. 2023 Dec 15;9:100133. doi: 10.1016/j.addicn.2023.100133. Epub 2023 Oct 20. PMID: 38312329; PMCID: PMC10836638.
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Swinford-Jackson SE, Huffman PJ, Knouse MC, Thomas AS, Rich MT, Mankame S, Worobey SJ, Sarmiento M, Coleman A, Pierce RC. High frequency DBS-like optogenetic stimulation of nucleus accumbens dopamine D2 receptor-containing neurons attenuates cocaine reinstatement in male rats. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 Feb;48(3):459-467. doi: 10.1038/s41386-022-01495-y. Epub 2022 Nov 29. PMID: 36446928; PMCID: PMC9852282.
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Swinford-Jackson SE, Fant B, Wimmer ME, Chan D, Knouse MC, Sarmiento M, Thomas AS, Huffman PJ, Mankame S, Worobey SJ, Pierce RC. Cocaine-Induced Changes in Sperm Cdkn1a Methylation Are Associated with Cocaine Resistance in Male Offspring. J Neurosci. 2022 Apr 6;42(14):2905-2916. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3172-20.2022. Epub 2022 Mar 1. PMID: 35232758; PMCID: PMC8985859.
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