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Lisa Schrott ’87, assistant professor of pharmacology, toxicology, and neuroscience at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, will give a presentation on the extent to which prenatal exposure to opiates affects behavior later in life 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Oechsle Hall Auditorium.
The lecture, “Opiate Drug Exposure During Pregnancy: A Potential Risk Factor for Substance Abuse Later in Life,” is sponsored by the Neuroscience program and is open to the public. A reception will follow in the lobby of Oechsle Hall.
The discussion will focus on how exposure to drugs early in life may alter the response to drugs in later life, paying special attention to vulnerability to addiction.
“There are many factors that affect whether casual drug use escalates to abuse or whether someone who has stopped using drugs relapses,” says Schrott. “In addition to genetic susceptibility factors and environmental triggers like stress, differences in the way the brain develops early in life can affect the neural response to a drug.”
Schrott has been exploring the behavioral, endocrine, and immune consequences of prenatal drug exposure using a rat model for a number of years. Her research has also allowed her to maintain a strong connection with Lafayette by recruiting student research assistants through the Lafayette Alumni Research Network (LEARN).
Now in its sixth year, LEARN provides neuroscience majors with eight to ten week paid internships hosted by alumni researchers who are leaders in their fields. The program was established in part through a grant from the McCutcheon Foundation in 2002.
Schrott previously worked with Marquis Scholar Sylvina Mullins ’07 (Johnstown, Pa.) and Jaime Abbazia ’05.
She believes there is tremendous value in alumni participating in programs like LEARN and other opportunities to stay connected with the College.
“It gives current students an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of types of research that they may not hear on a daily basis,” she says. “It will also expand their options for careers in the future as they see what Lafayette students before them have done. As an alumna it gives me an opportunity to give back to the Lafayette. I benefited greatly from both my didactic training at Lafayette as well as the opportunity to do research. That helped propel me into and gave me a firm foundation for graduate school and my subsequent research career.”
Schrott has published numerous articles on her research in scholarly journals. She received her Ph.D. from University of Connecticut.
Along with Schrott,Jay Weiss ’62, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, and James Simmons ’65, professor of biology at Brown University, have also been closely involved with the LEARN program.