Modeling addiction-like behavior in mice: optogenetic mimicry to explore the neural mechanisms underlying a complex disease

Host: Nadine Gogolla

About the talk:

Despite acting through distinct molecular targets, addictive drugs share a core effect: they elevate mesolimbic dopamine. This talk will explore how optogenetics can isolate and reproduce this common mechanism, allowing mice to self-stimulate dopamine neurons—or indirectly activate them through disinhibition—without administering a drug. These models recapitulate key features of addiction, from reinforcement and persistent synaptic plasticity to compulsive reward seeking despite negative consequences. By revealing how precisely controlled dopamine transients reshape defined corticostriatal circuits, optogenetic mimicry offers a powerful approach to understanding both the progression to addiction and the striking differences in individual vulnerability.

Bio:

Christian Lüscher is a neurologist & full professor of neuroscience at the University of Geneva. His group’s research focuses on neural mechanisms of motivated behavior to understand the circuit alterations underlying drug addiction and obesity. The group has identified “drug-evoked synaptic plasticity” as a cellular substrate of addiction and characterised circuits engaged by hedonic food intake that can override metabolic needs. Several projects now aim at translating the advances of circuit neuroscience to human research. Lüscher is behind the idea of “optogenetically inspired deep brain stimulation” (short OptoDBS.ch), drawing blueprints for novel brain stimulation protocols based on optogenetic disease models. Christian Lüscher has published over 90 original articles, cited more than 25,000 times. His core funding comes from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the ERC (advanced grants in 2013 and 2021). He is the laureate of several prizes, including the Cloëtta Prize (2010), the Otto Naegeli Prize (2020), the Schaller Prize (2022), and the Seeburg Prize (2023). He is a member of EMBO.