Stephanie L. Borgland, Ph.D.
Young Investigator

Dr. Stephanie Borgland is currently an Associate Investigator at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at University of California, San Francisco. Starting January 2008, she will be moving to the department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Borgland uses slice electrophysiology to elucidate the synaptic and cellular events involved in plasticity of excitatory synapses in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons.
She received her Ph.D. in 2002 in Pharmacology from the University of Sydney, Australia in the laboratory of Professor MacDonald Christie. There, she characterized pain modulators on calcium currents in trigeminal sensory neurons and examined mechanisms of opioid receptor desensitization. Subsequently, Dr. Borgland completed postdoctoral training at the Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center at UCSF under the supervision of Dr. Antonello Bonci, where she investigated the effects of acute and chronic cocaine on synaptic plasticity of midbrain dopamine neurons. Her main interest lies in understanding the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the homeostatic regulation of brain reward circuits and how drugs of abuse can hijack normal appetitive behaviour.

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