Tamara Markovic

The main focus of my thesis work is to assess how pain induced dysfunction in opioid signaling alters mesolimbic dopamine neurotransmission leading to loss of motivation and anhedonia, a hallmarks of negative affective disorders. Using a large array of innovative tools such as chemogenetics, optogenetic and fiber photometry in combination with traditional behavioral approaches my work aims to further dissect the neurobiology behind pain induced negative affect.

Prior to starting graduate school, I was a student-athlete at State University of New York in Buffalo and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology. During my undergraduate studies, and later on as lab technician, I studied the role of mesopontine cholinergic neurons and the UII system in reward related behaviors in the lab of Dr. Stewart Clark.

Outside of the lab I enjoy playing tennis, cooking and reading.