The Psychology Newsletter for Spring 2013 (.PDF, 690 KB) covers updates for the Science IV and V Buildings, profiles some of our faculty and alumni (both Graduate & Undergraduate), and highlights our Honors students and awards winners from 2012.
Jilla SabetiAssistant Professor of Psychology
PhD. University of Colorado
Post-doctoral fellowship: The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
Area: Behavioral Neuroscience
E-mail: jsabeti@binghamton.edu
Phone: (607) 777-4219
Office: Science 4, room 132
Member of Society for Neuroscience and Research Society on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Reviewer for the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Psychopharmacology and neurobiology, neuroactive steroid systems and sigma‐1 receptor functions, synaptic transmission and plasticity, alcohol and drug abuse models
Binge or excessive drinking has become a growing epidemic among adolescents and young adults, posing a serious risk factor for alcohol addiction or other debilitating mental health problems later in life. Effective treatment strategies against addiction progression demand a greater understanding of both the developmental processes essential for normal brain functioning and behavior, as well as the central mechanisms underlying the brain's maladaptive responses to alcohol. Much of our lab's efforts are focused in this area by employing adolescent rat models of binge intoxication via alcohol vapor exposure, which allows us to probe into the mechanisms of drug abuse and addiction development at multiple levels of brain organization (from systems to synapses). Specifically, we aim to combine several approaches including electrophysiology (brain slice recordings), biochemistry (Western blot analyses) and behavior pharmacology strategies to study the pathways and molecules involved in alcohol and drug-induced disease of the brain. An area of research focus in our lab is studying the unique role of non‐opioid sigma‐1 receptors in the long‐term changes in synaptic transmission, plasticity, and memory dysfunction, which result from alcohol and drug abuse during critical windows of development from very early adolescence to adulthood.
I view graduate training from a developmental perspective that aims beyond the mere imparting of information and, rather, provides an experience that contributes to the person’s intellectual, emotional, and cultural growth. Mentoring from a developmental perspective focuses on the whole person and is concerned with facilitating the person’s rational processes, creativity, and interpersonal interactions and problem‐solving and decision‐making skills. This would mean recognizing the importance of being most candid, truthful, and passionate about our scientific pursuits, and setting high standards of scientific excellence in the lab and classroom — remembering always to provide high support so that everyone feels appreciated and valued for their unique contributions to the learning experience.
Sabeti J. (2011). Early adolescent brain alcohol exposure elicits loss of EPSP‐spike (E‐S) potentiation by sigma‐1 receptor actions in hippocampal CA1 neurons. Alcoholism:
Clinical and Experimental Research, 35:885-904.
Sabeti J, and Gruol DL. (2008) Emergence of NMDA‐receptor‐independent long-term potentiation at hippocampal CA1 synapses following early‐adolescent
exposure to chronic intermittent ethanol: role for sigma‐receptors. Hippocampus, 18:148168.
Sabeti J, Nelson TE, Purdy RH, Gruol DL. (2007). The steroid pregnenolone sulfate enhances NMDA‐receptor‐independent long‐term potentiation at hippocampal CA1
synapses: role for L‐type Ca2+ channels and sigma receptors. Hippocampus, 17:349369.
Sabeti J, Gerhardt GA, Zahniser NR. (2003). Chloral hydrate and ethanol, but not urethane, alter the clearance of exogenous dopamine recorded by chronoamperometry in unrestrained rats. Neuroscience Letters, 343:912.
Sabeti J, Gerhardt GA, Zahniser NR. (2003). Individual differences in cocaine induced locomotor sensitization in low and high cocaine locomotor responding rats
are associated with differential inhibition of dopamine clearance in nucleus accumbens. J Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 305:180190.
