Marina Wolf

Marina Elizabeth Wolf is an American neuroscientist and Professor at Oregon Health & Science University. Her research considers the molecular mechanisms that underpin addiction. In 2017 she was appointed Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She served as the 2019 President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Marina Wolf
Alma materYale University
Scientific career
InstitutionsOregon Health & Science University
Sinai-Grace Hospital
ThesisRegulation of Dopamine Synthesis and Release in Striatal and Prefrontal Cortical Brain Slices (1986)
InfluencedLisa Monteggia

Early life and education

Wolf was an undergraduate student at Northwestern University.[1] Wolf earned her doctoral degree at Yale University, where she worked under the supervision of Robert Henry Roth.[1] She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Sinai-Grace Hospital.

Research and career

In 1990 Wolf joined Wayne State University as an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry. She stayed in Detroit for two years, before moving to Chicago Medical School.[2] Her research has mainly considered neuronal plasticity in drug addiction.[3] In the early nineties, it was generally understood that dopamine neurons were responsible for addiction.[4] Wolf was not convinced by this explanation, and instead started to investigate the role of glutamate in psychiatric disorders.[4][5] In particular, Wolf considered the molecular mechanisms responsible for cocaine dependency. People who are addicted to cocaine are more likely to relapse weeks after quitting than they are in the first few days.[4] Wolf studied the glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens of cocaine-addicted rats in the days and weeks after their cocaine supply was cut off. She showed that the levels of glutamate receptors containing non-typical subunits increased as the time after quitting increased; that is, rats were responding to glutamate more strongly several weeks into their withdrawal from cocaine.[4] She combined these studies with patch clamp investigations, showing that when glutamate receptors were blocked their responses to cocaine-cues were halved.[4] To achieve this, Wolf created a synthetic spider toxin that could be injected into the rat brains.[4] This indicated that neurons were making new receptors in response to cocaine withdrawal.

Wolf serves as associate editor of The Journal of Neuroscience.[3]

Awards and honours

Select publications
  • Wolf ME (1 April 1998). "The role of excitatory amino acids in behavioral sensitization to psychomotor stimulants". Progress in Neurobiology. 54 (6): 679–720. doi:10.1016/S0301-0082(97)00090-7. ISSN 0301-0082. PMID 9560846. Wikidata Q41749963.
  • Barry Everitt; Marina E Wolf (1 May 2002). "Psychomotor stimulant addiction: a neural systems perspective". The Journal of Neuroscience. 22 (9): 3312–3320. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-09-03312.2002. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6758398. PMID 11978805. Wikidata Q34616133.
  • Kelly L Conrad; Kuei Y Tseng; Jamie L Uejima; Jeremy M Reimers; Li-Jun Heng; Yavin Shaham; Michela Marinelli; Marina E Wolf (25 May 2008). "Formation of accumbens GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors mediates incubation of cocaine craving". Nature. 454 (7200): 118–121. doi:10.1038/NATURE06995. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 2574981. PMID 18500330. Wikidata Q36953517.

References
  1. "Marina Wolf Ph.D. | OHSU People | OHSU". www.ohsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  2. "Marina E. Wolf, Ph.D." Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  3. "NeuroFrontiers: A Confluence of role-playing students and alumni". www.lakeforest.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  4. "Unusual brain receptors weaken resistance to cocaine cravings". Nature. 454 (7200): xi–xi. 2008. doi:10.1038/7200xia. ISSN 1476-4687.
  5. "Yale Will Host Meeting April 13-15 of Leading Researchers in the Role of Glutamate in Schizophrenia and other Psychiatric Disorders". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  6. "2017 AAAS Fellows Recognized for Advancing Science | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  7. "ACNP President's Letter 2019" (PDF). ACNP. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
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