Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
School of Medicine

Adolescence, Nicotine, Tobacco, Stimulants, Alcohol, Illicit Drugs, nAChRs, Dopamine, Serotonin, Opioids, Marijuana, Addiction, Development, Maternal Drug Exposure, Brain Imaging, Reward, Learning and Memory, Limbic Brain, Drug Seeking, Gut-Brain Axis

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Complete List of Published Work

Lotfipour Lab Website - Translational Addiction Laboratory

TEDxFulbright Santa Monica

UCI Behavioral Testing Core

TEDxUCIrvine

1997 – 1999 Dr. John R. Miltner Annual Academic and Leadership Scholarship, University of California, Irvine
1999 – 2000 Tierney Leadership and Arts Scholarship, University of California, Irvine
2000 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, University of California, Irvine
2000 Phi Beta Kappa, University of California, Irvine
2000 Valedictorian, University of California, Irvine
2000 – 2001 United States Fulbright Fellowship, University of Queensland, School of Pharmacy, Brisbane, Australia
2002-2003 National Institute of Health Neurobiology Training Fellowship, University of California, Irvine
2004-2006 Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), University of California, Irvine, 13DT 0033
2007 – 2009 Academic Senate, Elected Member, University of Nottingham
2009 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Hot Topic Selection, Miami, Florida
2010 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Voice E-poster Selection, Miami, Florida
2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Advanced Techniques of Molecular Neuroscience Course, New York
2012 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cellular Biology of Addiction Course, Barcelona, Spain
2015 UC Irvine Director of the Translational Addiction Laboratory
2016 UC Irvine ADVANCE Career Development Award
2016 UC Irvine Center for Addiction Neuroscience Executive Committee Member
2016 U See I Write Fall Faculty Retreat Participant
2017 NIH Bootcamp (1st Mentee Selection, UCI School of Medicine)
2017 U See I Write Spring Faculty Retreat Participant
2017 NIH Early Career Reviewer Program, Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health
2018 U See I Write Winter Faculty Retreat Participant
2018 Department of Emergency Medicine Nominee, Institute on Clinical Translational Science Leadership Workshop, University of California, Irvine
2018 Faculty Mentor Program (FMP), President’s Dissertation Year (PDY) and Graduate Dean’s Dissertation (GDDF) Fellowship Selection Committee Nominee, Representing the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Graduate Program for the College of Health Sciences
2018 ADVANCE U See I Write Spring Faculty Retreat Participant, University of California, Irvine
2019 In-Line Tenure Track Promotion to Assistant Professor, Step V, University of California, Irvine
2019 ADVANCE U See I Write Winter Faculty Retreat Participant, University of California, Irvine
2019 UROP Faculty Mentor of the Month, University of California, Irvine
2019 Excellence in Research Lab Safety at the University of California, Irvine, Environmental Health & Safety
2019 New Venture Competition Finalist, Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Paul Merage School of Business, Project Title: Gut Feelings, University of California, Irvine
2019 Clinical Trials and Methodology Residential Course Attendee
2019 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship, UCI School of Medicine
2019 UCI GATI Program Academic Instructor
2019 Thank a Teacher Program Recipient, Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation
2019-present Co-Director, Honors Committee, UC Irvine School of Medicine Excellence in Research Program
2019 Director of the University of California Irvine Behavioral Neuroscience Testing Core
2019 Elected Fellow, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine
2020 Neurobiology of Drug Addiction Gordon Research Conference Selected Member, Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River in Newry, ME United States, August of 2020
2020 Academic Resources Advisory Council (ARAC) training program for Assistant Professors, Selected Member
2020 International Narcotics Research Conference (INRC) Invited Speaker (Postponed Due to COVID)
2020 United States Fulbright Fellowship Interviewer Selection Committee, University of California, Irvine
2020-present American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)
2020-present Member of the Program Committee for the 2021 Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland

2007 – 2009 Brain and Body Center, Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham
2009 – 2011 T-32 Post-Doctoral Training Program Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Psychobiology of the Major Mental Illnesses
2011 – 2014 Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, University of California, Los Angeles
2012-2015 Assistant Research Neuroscientist, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles
2015-present Assistant Professor, In-Line Tenure-Track Senate Seat Position, Step V, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, Irvine
2020-present Joint Appointment, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Irvine

Research objectives are to understand the mechanisms mediating addictive disorders. Special interest is on how gut, genes, brain and behavior interact with environment (e.g. developmental drug exposure) to influence addiction. Focus is placed on gut bacteria, genetics, midbrain and limbic brain regions in modulating baseline and drug-induced brain and behavior associations. The goals of the research studies are to further our understanding of the impact of drugs of abuse on the developing and adult brain using animal models, with translational relevance to the human population. The information gathered aims to assist in the promotion of better prevention and intervention strategies for the reduction of addictive disorders in the future.

Over the last twenty-one years, Dr. Shahrdad Lotfipour has used rodent animal models and translational studies in humans to study the mechanisms of drug addiction and therapeutic interventions that could assist in cessation. Through his studies, Dr. Lotfipour has gained experience on how genes, brain and environment interact to influence adolescent drug use. Dr. Lotfipour’s path leading to the study of neurobiology of drug addiction started as a United States Fulbright fellow at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. He studied the pharmacological properties of opioids and their influences on animal behavior. This led to graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). At one of seven National Institutes of Health funded Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers, Dr. Lotfipour’s Ph.D. studies focused on the neural mechanisms of adolescent nicotine/psychostimulant use, nicotinic receptor regulation of developing catecholamine systems and the role of monoamine oxidase inhibitors in tobacco addiction. His graduate work was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Nottingham, in the United Kingdom. Dr. Lotfipour discovered how nicotinic receptor and neurotrophic factor genes interact with brain and environment (i.e. maternal tobacco exposure) to influence adolescent substance use. Subsequently, he pursued the molecular neurobiology of learning, memory and drug addiction at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Through genetic engineering, brain imaging, and phenotyping studies, Dr. Lotfipour found distinct roles for selective nicotinic receptors influencing behavior and neuronal plasticity. Now, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Lotfipour’s research maintains focus on the molecular neurobiology of drug addiction (www.lotfipourlab.org).

Carreño D, Lotfipour S. Sex- and genotype-dependent nicotine plus cue-primed reinstatement is enhanced in adolescent Sprague Dawley rats containing the human CHRNA6 3'-UTR polymorphism (rs2304297) Frontiers in Psychiatry 2023-01-10 | Journal article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1064211 Part of ISSN: 1664-0640

Ren M, Lotfipour S. Antibiotic Knockdown of Gut Bacteria Sex-Dependently Enhances Intravenous Fentanyl Self-Administration in Adult Sprague Dawley Rats. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 27;24(1):409. doi: 10.3390/ijms24010409.
PMID: 36613853

Carreño D, Lotfipour S. Male and Female Sprague Dawley Rats Exhibit Equivalent Natural Reward, Nicotine Self-Administration, Extinction, and Reinstatement During Adolescent-Initiated Behaviors. Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 Oct 8:ntac234. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntac234. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 36208287

Ren M, Lotfipour S. Dose- and Sex-Dependent Bidirectional Relationship between Intravenous Fentanyl Self-Administration and Gut Microbiota.
Microorganisms. 2022 May 30;10(6):1127. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10061127.
PMID: 35744645

Cardenas A, Martinez M, Saenz Mejia A, Lotfipour S.Early adolescent subchronic low-dose nicotine exposure increases subsequent cocaine and fentanyl self-administration in Sprague-Dawley rats. Behav Pharmacol. 2020 Sep 21. PMID: 32960853 https://journals.lww.com/behaviouralpharm/Abstract/9000/Early_adolescent_subchronic_low_dose_nicotine.99158.aspx

Ren M, Lotfipour S. The role of the gut microbiome in opioid use. Behavioural Pharmacology. 2019. Epub ahead of print. https://journals.lww.com/behaviouralpharm/Abstract/publishahead/The_role_of_the_gut_microbiome_in_opioid_use.99199.aspx

Cardenas A, Elabd M, Lotfipour S. Specificity of a rodent alpha(a)6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit antibody. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019 Nov 30. PMID: 31786649

Dwyer JB, Cardenas A, Franke RM, Chen Y, Bai Y, Belluzzi JD, Lotfipour S, Leslie FM. Prenatal nicotine sex-dependently alters adolescent dopamine system development. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 18;9(1):304. PMID: 31740669 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0640-1

Ren M, Lotfipour S. Nicotine Gateway Effects on Adolescent Substance Use. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health. West J Emerg Med. 2019 Aug 20;20(5):696-709. PMID: 31539325

Mojica C, Bai Y, Lotfipour, S. Maternal Nicotine Exposure Effects on Adolescent Learning and Memory Are Abolished in Alpha(a)2* Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor-Null Mutant Mice, Neuropharmacology, Neuropharmacology. 2018 Jun;135:529-535. PMID: 29677582

Lotfipour S, Smith MT. Morphine hyposensitivity in streptozotocin-diabetic rats: Reversal by dietary l-arginine treatment. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2017 Sep 19. PMID: 28925511

Hersman S, Cushman J, Lemelson N, Wassum K, Lotfipour S, and Fanselow MS. Optogenetic excitation of cholinergic inputs to hippocampus primes future contextual fear associations. Scientific Reports. 2017 May 24;7(1):2333. PMID: 28539613

Lotfipour S, Mojica C, Nakauchi S, Lipovsek M, Silverstein S, Cushman J, Tirtorahardjo J, Poulos A, Elgoyhen AB, Sumikawa K, Fanselow MS, Boulter J. a2* Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors influence hippocampus-dependent learning and memory in adolescent mice. Learn Mem. 2017 May 15;24(6):231-244. Print 2017 Jun. PMID: 28507032

Faulkner P, Ghahremani DG, Tyndale RF, Cox CM, Kazanjian AS, Paterson N, Lotfipour S, Hellemann GS, Petersen N, Vigil C, London ED. Reduced-Nicotine Cigarettes in Young Smokers: Impact of Nicotine Metabolism on Nicotine Dose Effects. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 Feb 15. PMID: 28117337

Cross SJ, Lotfipour S, Leslie FM. Mechanisms and genetic factors underlying co-use of nicotine and alcohol or other drugs of abuse. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2017 Mar;43(2):171-185. Aug 17. PMID: 27532746

Upton M & Lotfipour S. Alpha2-Null Mutant Mice Have Altered Levels of Neuronal Activity in Restricted Midbrain and Limbic Brain Regions During Nicotine Withdrawal as Demonstrated by Cfos Expression. Biochemical Pharmacology. 2015, Oct 15;97(4):558-65, PMID: 26111579

Lotfipour S*, Ferguson E*, Leonard G, Miettunen J, Perron M, Pike GB, Richer L, Séguin JR, Veillette S, Jarvelin MR, Moilanen I, Mäki P, Nordström T, Pausova Z, Veijola J, Paus T. Maternal Cigarette Smoking during Pregnancy Predicts Drug Use Via Externalizing Behavior in Two Community-Based Samples of Adolescents. Addiction 2014
Oct;109(10):1718-29. PMID: 24942256 *Equal contributors.

Lotfipour S, Byun JS, Leach P, Fowler CD, Murphy NP, Kenny PJ, Gould TJ, Boulter J. Targeted Deletion of the a2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Gene (Chrna2) Potentiates Nicotine-Modulated Behaviors. Journal of Neuroscience. 2013, May;33(18):7728-41. PMID: 23637165.

Lotfipour S, Mandelkern M, Alvarez-Estrada, M, Brody A. A Single Administration of Low Dose Varenicline Saturates a4ß2* Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Human Brain. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2012 Jun;37(7):1738-48. PMID: 22395733

Lotfipour S, Paus T. Association Between Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Cigarette Smoking and the Brain and Behaviour of Adolescent Offspring. Invited Review: Wakschlag LS, topic ed. In: Tremblay RE, Boivin M, Peters RDeV, Barr RG, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. 2011:1-8.

Lotfipour S, Mandelkern M, Brody A. Quantitative Molecular Imaging of Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Human Brain With A-85380 Radiotracers. Current Medical Imaging Review. 2011 May; 7(2):107-112. ISSN: 1573- 4056 PMID:22773924

Lotfipour S, Arnold MM, Hogenkamp DJ, Gee KW, Belluzzi JD, Leslie FM. The Monoamine Oxidase (MAO) Inhibitor Tranylcypromine Enhances Nicotine Self Administration in Rats Through a Mechanism Independent of MAO Inhibition. Neuropharmacology. 2011 Jul-Aug;61(1-2):95-104. PMID: 21419142

Lotfipour S, Leonard G, Perron M, Pike GB, Richer L, Toro T, Veillette S, Ferguson E, Seguin J, Pausova Z, Paus T. Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Cigarette Smoking Interacts with a Polymorphism in the a6 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Gene to Influence Drug Use and Striatum Volume in Adolescence. Molecular Psychiatry. 2010 Jan;15(1):6-8. PMID: 20029407

Toledo M*, Lotfipour S*, Leonard G, Perron M, Pike GB, Richer L, Veillette S, Pausova Z, Paus T. Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy is Associated with Epigenetic Modifications of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor-6 Exon in Adolescent Offspring. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2010 Oct;153B(7):1350-4. PMID: 20583129 *Equal contributors

Lotfipour S, Leonard G, Perron M, Pike GB, Richer L, Toro T, Veillette S, Ferguson E, Seguin J, Pausova Z, Paus T. Orbitofrontal Cortex and Drug Use During Adolescence: Role of Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Smoking and BDNF Genotype. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2009 Nov;66(11):1244-52. PMID: 19884612

Lotfipour S. The Role of Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors in Tobacco Addiction. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Irvine, CA. 2008

Nielsen CK, Ross FB, Lotfipour S, Saini KS, Edwards SR, Smith MT. Oxycodone and Morphine Have Distinctly Different Pharmacological Profiles: Radioligand Binding and Behavioural Studies in Two Rat Models of Neuropathic Pain. Pain. 2007 Dec;132(3):289-300. PMID: 17467904

Cao J, Lotfipour S, Loughlin SE, Leslie FM. Adolescent Maturation of Cocaine-Sensitive Neural Mechanisms. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007 Nov;32(11):2279-89. PMID: 17299504

Villégier AS, Lotfipour S, Belluzzi JD, Leslie FM. Involvement of Alpha1-Adrenergic Receptors in Tranylcypromine Enhancement of Nicotine Self-Administration in Rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2007 Sep;193(4):457-65. PMID: 17486319

Villégier AS, Lotfipour S, McQuown SC, Belluzzi JD, Leslie FM. Tranylcypromine Enhancement of Nicotine SelfAdministration. Neuropharmacology. 2007 May;52(6):1415-25. PMID: 17412372

Leslie FM, Azam L, Gallardo K., O’Leary K., Franke R. and Lotfipour S. Nicotinic Receptor Regulation of Developing Catecholamine Systems. In: Development of the Mammalian Central Nervous System: Lessons Learned from Studies of Alcohol and Nicotine, Miller, M.W., ed., Oxford Press, April, 2006

Leslie FM, Loughlin SE, Wang R, Perez L, Lotfipour S, Belluzzia JD. Adolescent Development of Forebrain Stimulant Responsiveness: Insights From Animal Studies. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2004 Jun;1021:148-59. PMID: 15251884

Lotfipour S. The Relative Potency of Morphine and Oxycodone in the STZ-Diabetic Rat, School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, Aug 2002; (U.S. Fulbright Masters Thesis)

2001 Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Grant, University of California, Irvine

2003 Hyundai Motor America Award, University of California, Irvine Children’s Hospital

2008 Welcome Trust Travel Grant, Welcome Collection, London, UK

2009 Friends of the Semel Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

2010 Investigator Initiated Research Grant, Pfizer, University of California, Los Angeles and the Veterans Association Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

2010 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Travel Grant, Miami, Florida

2011 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award, University of California, Los Angeles

2012 Shane Endowment, University of California, Los Angeles

2013 Shane Endowment, University of California, Los Angeles

2013 Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, University of California, Los Angeles

2014 Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award

2014 Tobacco Related Disease Research Program

2016 Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (No Cost Extension)

2016 Brain and Behavior Foundation (No Cost Extension)

2016 UC Irvine ADVANCE Career Development Award

2017 Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (No Cost Extension)

2016 & 2017, UCI PRESTIGE, Enhancing & Leveraging Research Curriculum

2017 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grants, Two Awards for the Year and Two Summer Awards

2018 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grants, Three Awards

2019 UCI Microbiome Initiative Pilot Grant

2019 UCI ICTS HEAL Initiative Helping to End the Opioid Epidemic

2019 UCI ICTS Pilot Award

2019 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Six Awards for Undergraduate Research

2019 University of California Irvine (UCI) Small Capitalization Grant Awarded ($1.667 million) for the Development of the First Ever Behavioral Neuroscience Testing Core at UCI in the Basement of the Biological Sciences 3 Facility. The Grant Was Awarded In Collaboration With the UCI Office of Research (OoR), Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM), University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR), Drs. Mike Yassa, Shahrdad Lotfipour, and Jennifer Prescher, With Support Provided From the UCI School of Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, OoR, CNLM, and ULAR.

2019 Department of Emergency Medicine Pilot Research Grant, University of California, Irvine

2020 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Three Awards for Undergraduate Research, University of California, Irvine

2020-2023 University of California Office of the President / Tobacco Related Disease Research Program Pilot Grant, Functional Role of a Human 3’UTR Polymorphism in Adolescent Nicotine Seeking, Principal Investigator, $514,018

2020-2025 National Institutes of Health R01 Subcontract, Grant Number: 1 R01 DA048899-01A1, Subcontract Proposal #: 215136, Comparative neurobehavioral pharmacology of combusted and noncombusted tobacco products, UCI Site Co-Principal Investigator, Support Requested: $577,771; Grant Total Amount: $3,629,566.00

2022-2023: Institute for Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Studies Program, National Center for the Advancement of Clinical Science, Post-Translational Mechanisms of a 3' UTR Alpha6 Nicotinic Receptor Polymorphism in Adolescent Substance Use.

Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Society for Neuroscience

Australian-American Fulbright Alumni Association

American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

Pharmacological Sciences

Irvine Center for Addiction Neuroscience: http://ican.bio.uci.edu/ http://irvinecan.com/

Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory https://cnlm.uci.edu

Institute for Clinical Translational Sciences (ICTS)

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6177

Last updated
01/18/2023