AJ Baucum
Associate ProfessorBiology
Adjunct Faculty in Pharmacology and Toxicology
Primary Faculty Stark Neurosciences
ude[dot]iupui[at]mucuabja
Understanding signaling pathways that regulate striatal dysfunction associated with drug abuse, mental health disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Our research aims at uncovering specific signaling pathways that contribute to different disease states. These basic science studies will increase our understanding of the synaptic scaffolding protein, spinophilin, and how its function mediates different neurological disorders. We use multiple mouse models of disease, including models of Parkinson disease, pscyhostimulant drug abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, obesity, and ischemia and stroke to understand how this one protein contributes to molecular changes that occur in these models of disease. This evidence will hopefully allow future studies to generate drugs to target this protein to help ameliorate symptoms associated with a range of neurological disorders. We use an interdisciplinary approach including disciplines such as pharmacology, biochemistry, synaptic physiology, neuroscience, and genetics to uncover novel signaling pathways linked to myriad diseases.