Programs
IBMS Discipline
Mentor
Michelle Doyle
Ph.D. Student
Biography
Michelle is interested in exploring processes that play a role in drug addiction, such as factors mediating drug-taking or drug-seeking behaviors. In the Collins lab, she uses in vivo assays, including self-administration and locomotor activity, to evaluate the abuse-potential of stimulants, including synthetic cathinones, which are commonly referred to as “bath salts”. She is particularly interested in better understanding phenotypes related to substance use disorders in humans, including determining factors that may increase vulnerability to developing aberrant drug-taking behavior. Michelle is also interested in evaluating abuse-related effects of drugs alone compared to drug combinations (e.g., cathinones alone or cathinones mixed with caffeine).
Research Topic: Behavioral Pharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience
Publications
Education
B.S., Biopsychology, Tufts University, 2014
Awards
Senior Student of the Year Award from Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UT Health San Antonio - 2021
Trainee Professional Development Award from Society for Neuroscience - 2021
Booth Memorial Travel Award from the William V. Booth Jr. Endowment and Department of Pharmacology at UT Health San Antonio - 2021
Excellence in Preclinical Work by a Pre-Doctoral Researcher Award at College on Problems of Drug Dependence annual meeting - 2021
NIDA Director’s Travel Award from College on Problems of Drug Dependence - 2021
Travel Award from American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics - 2021
Student of the Year Award from Department of Pharmacology at UT Health San Antonio - 2020
Women’s Health Initiative Scholarship from The Council for Excellence in Women’s Health at UT Health San Antonio - 2020
NIDA Women & Sex/Gender Junior Investigator Travel Award from College on Problems of Drug Dependence - 2020
Travel Award to the International Study Group Investigating Drugs as Reinforcers (ISGIDAR) Annual Meeting – 2020
Best Presentation Award at Behavior, Biology and Chemistry (BBC): Translational Research in Addiction Annual Meeting – 2018
Predoctoral fellow on the Institutional National Research Service Award, T32 NS082145 (NINDS) funded by the NIH Jointly Sponsored NIH Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences – 2017 - 2018
Best Presentation Award at the Department of Pharmacology Graduate Student Symposium, UT Health San Antonio – 2017
Dean’s Excellence Award at UT Health San Antonio – 2016
Travel Award for Behavior, Biology and Chemistry (BBC): Translational Research in Addiction Annual Meeting – 2016