Philippe Faure & Alexandre Mourot - Neurophysiology and Behavior
The midbrain dopamine system plays a major role in motivational control and in behavioral actions controlled by rewards, and also has a central role in the neurobiology of addiction. Our lab combines innovative behavioral approaches, ex vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, optogenetics, home-made optopharmacology tools and modeling, to study decision-making mechanisms and their alterations in psychiatric diseases, particularly nicotine addiction. We study the environmental factors that modulate the activity of these networks and the personality traits that characterize individuals, with the aim to link variability in decision-making behaviors and the development of nicotine addiction.