BA St. John's University, MN
MA University of Colorado, Boulder
PhD University of Colorado, Boulder
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The focus of my laboratory is to apply methods of behavioral neuroscience towards the study of neural systems mediating the motivational aspects of drug of abuse and natural rewards, including food and exercise. Our research addresses these concerns and questions through an integrative approach of behavioral, pharmacological, and molecular biological techniques.
Selected (past 5 years) Publications below:
Full list of publications: My Bibilography
Woo T, Ahmed NI, Appenteng MK, King C, Li R, Fritsche KL, Sun GY, Cui J, Will MJ, Maurer SV, Stevens HE, Beversdorf DQ, Greenlief CM. Effect of Maternal Dietary DHA and Prenatal Stress Mouse Model on Autistic-like Behaviors, Lipid Peroxidation Activity, and GABA Expression in Offspring Pups. Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jul 14;26(14):6730. doi: 10.3390/ijms26146730. PMID: 40724979
Cam Y, Kocum CG, Houska TK, Konrad ER, Schweizer TA, Will MJ. Palatable feeding effects on expression and reinstatement of morphine conditioned place preference in male and female rats. Behav Brain Res. 2025 Feb 4;477:115320. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115320. Epub 2024 Nov 1. PubMed PMID: 39489431.
Cam Y, Kocum CG, Konrad ER, Schweizer TA, Houska TK, Sardina CA, Suri SK, Will MJ. Incentive motivation for palatable food blocked by intra-accumbens melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) receptor-1 antagonist in female rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2024 Sep 26;245:173884. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2024.173884. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 39341509.
Kocum CG, Cam Y, Shay DA, Schweizer TA, Konrad ER, Houska TK, Sardina CA, Schachtman TR, Vieira-Potter VJ, Will MJ. Voluntary wheel running access produces opposite effects in male and female rats on both palatable diet consumption and associated ventral striatal opioid- and dopamine-related gene expression. Front Integr Neurosci. 2024;18:1426219. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2024.1426219. eCollection 2024. PubMed PMID: 39131599; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11310025.
Woo T, King C, Ahmed NI, Cordes M, Nistala S, Will MJ, Bloomer C, Kibiryeva N, Rivera RM, Talebizadeh Z, Beversdorf DQ. microRNA as a Maternal Marker for Prenatal Stress-Associated ASD, Evidence from a Murine Model. J Pers Med. 2023 Sep 20;13(9). doi: 10.3390/jpm13091412. PubMed PMID: 37763179; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10533003.
Raza Qazi, Kyle E. Parker, Choong Yeon Kim, Rudriger Rill, Makenzie R. Norris, Jaeyoon Chung, Jenny Kim, John Bilbily, Marie C. Walicki, Graydon B. Gereau, Hyoyoung Lim, Yanyu Xiong, Jenna R. Lee, Melissa A Tapia, Matthew J. Will, Sangtae Ha, Jordan G. McCall, Jae-Woong Jeong. (2022). Scalable and modular wireless-network infrastructure for large-scale behavioural neuroscience. Nature Biomedical Engineering. Jun;6(6):771-786. PMID: 34824397.
Sun GY, Appenteng MK, Li R, Woo T, Yang B, Qin C, Pan M, Cieślik M, Cui J, Fritsche KL, Gu Z, Will M, Beversdorf D, Adamczyk A, Han X, Greenlief CM. (2021). Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Supplementation Alters Phospholipid Species and Lipid Peroxidation Products in Adult Mouse Brain, Heart, and Plasma. Neuromolecular Med. Mar;23(1):118-129. PMID: 32926329.
Tapia MA, Sage AS, Fullerton EI, Judd JM, Hildebrant PC, Will MJ, Lever SZ, Lever JR, Miller DK. The sigma receptor ligand N-phenylpropyl-N'-(4-methoxyphenethyl)3piperazine (YZ-067) enhances the cocaine conditioned-rewarding properties while inhibiting the development of sensitization of cocaine in mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2020 Mar;237(3):723-734. PubMed PMID: 31822924.