Austin Headed to UChicago Medical School on Full Scholarship
Austin Pothikamjorn will be attending the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago this fall on a full tuition scholarship! Congratulations Austin!
Suraj Neelamagam presented on Upenn neuroscience research symposium
On April 17th, Suraj Neelamagam presented his senior thesis at the UPenn Neuroscience Research Symposium. Conducted in collaboration with Antonia Caffrey and Riley Merkel under the advisement of Dr. Heath Schmidt, his research explored how GLP-1 receptors in the central … Read More
Tirzepatide on cocaine addiction paper by Christian Edvardsson and Grace Zhang
Building on their earlier work showing that appetite-regulating peptides reduce alcohol intake via the paraventricular thalamus, the team has turned their attention to cocaine — with striking results. Their new EBioMedicine study finds that tirzepatide, a GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist approved … Read More
Congratulations to Cajsa and Antonia on your Neuropharmacology paper!
We’ve long known that appetite-regulating peptides play a role in alcohol use disorder — but where in the brain does this happen? Our latest study points to a surprising player: the paraventricular thalamus (PVT). In our recent paper, we found … Read More
A Meta-Analysis of New Persistent Opioid Use by Yoonjae Lee and Dr. Schmidt
One in nine Americans will undergo a surgical procedure during their lifetime; for some, the treatment of postoperative pain represents their first prolonged exposure to an opioid. New persistent opioid use (NPOU)—defined as continued use beyond the typical three-month recovery … Read More
Congratulations Antonia and colleagues on your British Journal of Pharmacology paper!
On June 2, 2025, Antonia, Enzo, and colleagues published a study in the British Journal of Pharmacology titled ‘A GLP-1R/Y1 receptor/Y2 receptor triple agonist decreases fentanyl-evoked dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and attenuates fentanyl taking and seeking in rats’. … Read More
Congratulations Cajsa and Antonia on your European Neuropsychopharmacology paper!
On July 10th, researchers from the Jerlhag and Schmidt laboratories published groundbreaking findings in European Neuropsychopharmacology demonstrating that semaglutide—a GLP-1R medication currently used for diabetes and weight management—significantly reduces cocaine-seeking behaviors in laboratory studies. The study, titled “Semaglutide suppresses cocaine … Read More
Congratulations Austin!
Austin Pothikamjorn has officially graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and is leaving the Schmidt Lab to begin an exciting new chapter. He will be joining the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA … Read More
Congratulations Riley and colleagues on your Science Advances paper!
Recent studies show that systemic administration of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist is sufficient to attenuate cocaine seeking. However, the neural mechanisms mediating these effects and the role of endogenous central GLP-1 signaling in cocaine seeking remain unknown. Here, … Read More
Dr. Schmidt’s Upcoming Talk at the National Academies
Dr. Schmidt will deliver a talk at the National Academies on Tuesday, September 10th, 2024. The event is part of a one-day public workshop organized by a planning committee from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This workshop … Read More