Erica S Levitt
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
[email protected]

Available to mentor
Erica S Levitt
Associate Professor
  • Qualifications
  • Research Overview
  • Links
  • Recent Publications
    • Qualifications
    • Postdoctoral Fellow
      Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, Vollum Institute
    • PharmD
      Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH
    • PhD
      University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor
    Research Overview

    The Levitt lab is interested in understanding how opioids and disease affect the brainstem circuitry that controls breathing using a variety of cellular and systems level approaches, including brain slice electrophysiology, circuit tracing, optogenetics, single unit and whole nerve recordings from a unique preparation with an intact respiratory network and in vivo-like respiratory cycle, and breathing measurements in awake animals.

    Links
    • Levitt lab website
    Recent Publications See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      Effect of positive allosteric modulation and orthosteric agonism of dopamine D2-like receptors on respiration in mouse models of Rett syndrome.
      Maletz SN, Reid BT, Baekey DM, Whitaker-Fornek JR, Bateman JT, Arakawa K, Bissonnette JM, Levitt ES. Respir Physiol Neurobiol, 2024 Oct; 328: 104314 DOI:10.1016/j.resp.2024.104314
      PMID: 39117159
    • Preprint
      Xylazine Exacerbates Fentanyl-Induced Respiratory Depression and Bradycardia.
      Demery-Poulos C, Moore SC, Levitt ES, Anand JP, Traynor JR. 2024 Aug 19; DOI:10.1101/2024.08.16.608310
      PMID: 39229079
    • Journal Article
      Exploring Serotonergic mechanisms in Opioid Induced Respiratory Depression
      Whitaker-Fornek J, Pauly R, Levitt E. Physiology, 2024 May; 39 (S1): 612 DOI:10.1152/physiol.2024.39.s1.612
    • Journal Article
      Inhibitory synaptic transmission is impaired in the Kölliker-Fuse of male, but not female, Rett syndrome mice.
      Whitaker-Fornek JR, Jenkins PM, Levitt ES. J Neurophysiol, 2023 Dec 1; 130 (6): 1578 - 1587. DOI:10.1152/jn.00327.2023
      PMID: 37965930
    • Journal Article
      Inhibitory synaptic transmission is impaired in the Kölliker-Fuse of male, but not female, Rett Syndrome Mice
      Whitaker-Fornek J, Jenkins P, Levitt E. 2023 DOI:10.1101/2023.10.02.560501
    • Journal Article
      Opioid suppression of an excitatory pontomedullary respiratory circuit by convergent mechanisms.
      Bateman JT, Levitt ES. Elife, 2023 Jun 14; 12: DOI:10.7554/eLife.81119
      PMID: 37314062
    • Journal Article
      Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptors in the Gustatory Cortex Influence Food Intake.
      Dossat AM, Kokoska MM, Whitaker-Fornek JR, Sniffen SE, Kulkarni AS, Levitt ES, Wesson DW. J Neurosci, 2023 Jun 7; 43 (23): 4251 - 4261. DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1668-22.2023
      PMID: 37127362
    • Journal Article
      Exploring sex differences in inhibitory synaptic transmission in the kolliker-fuse of rett syndrome mice
      Whitaker-Fornek J, Levitt E. Physiology, 2023 May; 38 (S1): 5731530 DOI:10.1152/physiol.2023.38.s1.5731530