{"id":155467,"date":"2026-09-25T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//?p=155467"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:18:46","slug":"ucf-researcher-investigates-mechanisms-of-nicotine-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//ucf-researcher-investigates-mechanisms-of-nicotine-addiction/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467//","title":{"rendered":"Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Researcher Investigates Mechanisms of Nicotine Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ assistant professor and researcher Cali Calarco, with the College of Medicine‘s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, is exploring how nicotine affects brain cells, providing insights that could ultimately help improve treatments for addiction./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

Through a nearly five-year, $943,000-plus grant from the National Institutes of Health, Calarco/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2019s lab is examining how neurons /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2014 nerve cells in the brain /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2014 and their molecules change when exposed to nicotine and other drugs. The goal is to understand how microscopic changes in the brain eventually influence behavioral decisions, including those associated with addiction./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cWe want to understand what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2019s really influencing the neuron,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d says Calarco, who began work on this project in 2024 as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, before joining Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in January as an assistant professor. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cWhich component is critical for the neuron function that leads to drug-seeking behavior?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

For this research, Calarco/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2019s lab is focused on the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain involved in reward, learning and behavior./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cI call it a little computer that integrates a lot of signals that come in relationship to reward learning from a lot of other parts of the brain to guide behavioral choices,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d she says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cWe want to understand what’s really influencing the neuron. Which component is critical for the neuron function that leads to drug-seeking behavior?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2014 Cali Calarco, assistant professor/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

The nucleus accumbens contains multiple types of brain cells, and Calarco/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2019s research examines how individual cell types respond to nicotine and other drugs. Her lab is particularly interested in mitochondria, the structures within cells that produce the energy they need to function. Recent studies suggest mitochondria may also play an important role in drug-seeking behavior./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cMitochondria have been underappreciated in neurons previously,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201cNeurons are incredibly complex cells that do incredibly complex tasks, both electrically and chemically that require a ton of energy, so we knew they were really important. But mitochondria also influence how neurons communicate with each other. They/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u2019re super important for gene transcription and translation and for steroid hormone production./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/155467/n