Carrie R Ferrario, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Associate Professor of Psychology
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
[email protected]

Available to mentor

Carrie R Ferrario, PhD
Associate Professor
  • About
  • Links
  • Qualifications
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications
  • About

    The Ferrario lab integrates concepts from the addiction, learning, and feeding fields to ask new questions about the neurobiological and behavioral drivers of obesity vs. drug addiction. Specifically, we examine how alterations in glutamatergic transmission within the striatum contribute to normal and aberrant motivation. Our long-term goal is to understand how sugary, fatty foods and physiological changes accompanying obesity alter brain function and behavior, how individual susceptibility to obesity interacts with these effects, and how mechanisms underlying strong urges to eat may be similar to as well as different from those that drive abuse of addictive substances like cocaine.

    Dr. Ferrario is Co-Director of the Biology of Drug Abuse NIDA-funded Postdoctoral T32

    Dr. Ferrario is also a member of the following programs at the University of Michigan:
    Domino Addiction Research Center
    Neuroscience Graduate Program
    Neuroscience Innovators
    Multidisciplinary Training Program in Basic Diabetes Research
    NIDA Training Program in Neuroscience

    Links
    Qualifications
    • Postdoctoral Fellow
      University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, 2012
    • Postdoctoral Fellow
      Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, 2008
    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Caswell Diabetes Institute
    Research Overview

    Neurobiology of motivation, obesity, addiction, glutamate plasticity, striatum

    Recent Publications See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      Obesity- and diet-induced plasticity in systems that control eating and energy balance.
      Ferrario CR, Münzberg-Gruening H, Rinaman L, Betley JN, Borgland SL, Dus M, Fadool DA, Medler KF, Morton GJ, Sandoval DA, de La Serre CB, Stanley SA, Townsend KL, Watts AG, Maruvada P, Cummings D, Cooke BM. Obesity (Silver Spring), 2024 Aug; 32 (8): 1425 - 1440. DOI:10.1002/oby.24060
      PMID: 39010249
    • Journal Article
      Quantifying social roles in multi-animal videos using subject-aware deep-learning.
      Goss K, Bueno-Junior LS, Stangis K, Ardoin T, Carmon H, Zhou J, Satapathy R, Baker I, Jones-Tinsley CE, Lim MM, Watson BO, Sueur C, Ferrario CR, Murphy GG, Ye B, Hu Y. bioRxiv, 2024 Jul 10; DOI:10.1101/2024.07.07.602350
      PMID: 39026890
    • Presentation
      Effects of Junk-food diet consumption on nucleus accumbens function and motivation in males and female rats
      2024 Jun 13;
    • Presentation
      Neural processes driving over-eating
      2024 May 24;
    • Presentation
      Cocaine-induced sensitization and glutamate plasticity in the nucleus accumbens core: effects of sex
      2024 May 9;
    • Presentation
      Contributions of striatal glutamate plasticity to obesity
      2024 Apr 12;
    • Presentation
      Contributions of striatal glutamate plasticity to obesity
      2024 Apr 1;
    • Journal Article
      Role of nucleus accumbens D1-type medium spiny neurons in the expression and extinction of sign-tracking.
      Derman RC, Bryda EC, Ferrario CR. Behav Brain Res, 2024 Feb 29; 459: 114768 DOI:10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114768
      PMID: 37984521
    Featured News & Stories
    Department News
    Dr. Carrie Ferrario featured in MM Health Lab
    Dr. Carrie Ferrario featured in Michigan Medicine Health Lab.
    Department News
    Congratulations to Dr. Carrie Ferrario
    Dr. Carrie R. Ferrario from the University of Michigan awarded the 2023 John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology.