Lisa Gerak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor/Research
Personal Statement:
Studies conducted in this laboratory examine the acute and chronic behavioral effects of benzodiazepines and other positive GABAA modulators, particularly neuroactive steroids. Benzodiazepine tolerance and dependence differentially alters the effects of positive GABAA modulators, depending on their site of action.
Our primary research goal is to investigate changes in GABAA receptor function with benzodiazepine tolerance and dependence, discover the nature of differences between the effects of neuroactive steroids and those of benzodiazepines, and determine whether these differences can be exploited for clinical benefit.
Education
Ph.D., Pharmacology
Louisiana State University Medical Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
Research
benzodiazepine | • neuroactive steroid |
• dependence | • tolerance |
Affiliations
2013-2015 – Secretary/Treasurer of the Behavioral Pharmacology Division of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)
06/98-Present – College on Problems of Drug Dependence
11/93-Present – Society for Stimulus Properties of Drugs
2005-Present – American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Member
Publications
Gerak, LR. and France, CP. (2014) Discriminative stimulus effects of pregnanolone in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology 231:181-190, PMC3882199
Zanettini, C., France, CP., Gerak, LR. (2014) Quantitative pharmacological analyses of the interaction between flumazenil and midazolam in monkeys discriminating midazolam: Determination of the functional half life of flumazenil. Eur J Pharmacol 723:405-409, PMC in progress
Zanettini, C., Yoon, SS., France, CP., Gerak, LR. (2013) Acute tolerance to chlordiazepoxide qualitatively changes the interaction between flumazenil and pregnanolone and not the interaction between flumazenil and midazolam in rhesus monkeys discriminating midazolam. Eur J Pharmacol 700:159-164, PMC3578055
Gerak, LR. and France, CP. (2012) Quantitative analyses of antagonism: combinations of midazolam and either flunitrazepam or pregnanolone in rhesus monkeys discriminating midazolam. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 340:742-749
Eppolito, AK., Bai, X. and Gerak, LR. (2012) Discriminative stimulus effects of pregnanolone in rats: role of training dose in determining mechanism of action. Psychopharmacology 223:139-47 PMC3490492