Shelly Flagel

 portrait of Shelly Flagel
Research Professor
Office:
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Psychiatry/Michigan Neuroscience Institute
109 Zina Pitcher Place
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Phone:
Available to mentor
Shelly Flagel
portrait of Shelly Flagel
Research Professor
  • About
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  • Qualifications
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications

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    • About

    I am a behavioral neuroscientist interested in the neural mechanisms that underlie maladaptive and psychopathological behaviors.

    Links
    • http://www.flagellab.com/

    Qualifications
    • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
      Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, Psychiatry, Ann Arbor, United States
      2003 - 2007
      Postdoctoral Fellowship

    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Opioid Research Institute
    • Center Member
      Eisenberg Family Depression Center
    • Center Member
      Caswell Diabetes Institute

    Research Overview

    neuropsychopharmacology, addiction, impulse control disorders, animal models of psychiatric conditions, neural circuits, behavioral neuroscience, motivated behavior, reward learning

    Recent Publications

     See All Publications
    • Preprint
      Genomic SEM reveals shared genetic architecture and expands locus discovery for locomotor activity in heterogeneous stock rats
      Chitre AS, Sanches TM, Ang G, Amissah NK, Avila R, Bimschleger H, Campo P, Cannella N, Chen D, Cheng R, Cohen KA, Crow AD, Dereschewitz E, Doyle MR, Eid M, George AM, Horvath AP, Ishiwari K, Johnson BB, Keung E, King C, Martin CD, Garcia Martinez A, Munro D, Netzley AH, Nguyen K-M, Peng B, Pullmann D, Rahman SRMU, Roberts AT, Sadegi M, Sevigny-Resetco D, Soverchia L, St. Pierre CL, Suzuki N, Thompson BM, Tyagi S, Ubaldi M, Vogel RM, Wang T, Wang Y, Chen H, Ciccocioppo R, de Guglielmo G, Dietz D, Flagel SB, Jhou T, Jiang J, Kalivas PW, Kuhn BN, Meyer PJ, Mitchell SH, Robinson TE, Polesskaya O, Palmer AA. 2026 Oct 8; bioRxiv, DOI:10.64898/2026.10.01.756043
    • Journal Article
      Chemogenetic Inhibition of Lateral Hypothalamus Inputs to the Paraventricular Thalamus Reduces Goal-Tracking in a Behaviorally Flexible Subgroup of Male Rats
      Iglesias AG, Bhatti JK, Turfe AE, Chang S, Lu HJ, Campus P, Flagel SB. Eneuro, 2026 Sep 1; 13 (9): DOI:10.1523/ENEURO.0174-26.2026
      PMID: 42538309
    • Preprint
      Chemogenetic Inhibition of Lateral Hypothalamus Inputs to the Paraventricular Thalamus Reduces Goal-Tracking in a Behaviorally Flexible Subgroup of Male Rats.
      Iglesias AG, Bhatti JK, Turfe AE, Chang S, Liu J, Campus P, Flagel SB. 2026 May 29; DOI:10.64898/2026.05.28.728487
      PMID: 42244616
    • Preprint
      Differential acquisition of cocaine and heroin self-administration in a rat model of internalizing versus externalizing temperament.
      Emery MA, Parsegian A, Koonse S, Hebda-Bauer EK, Lee K, Luma BD, Chang SE, Becker J, Flagel SB, Watson SJ, Akil H. 2026 Apr 13; DOI:10.64898/2026.04.09.717453
      PMID: 42039450
    • Journal Article
      Chronic semaglutide treatment enhances the incentive motivational value of a small food reward and associated cue in male and female rats
      Chang SE, Turner CA, Pagán NM, Pereira D, Kleer S, Flagel SB. Psychopharmacology, 2026 Jan 1; DOI:10.1007/s00213-026-07045-4
    • Journal Article
      Correction: Bioenergetic-related gene expression in the hippocampus predicts internalizing vs. externalizing behavior in an animal model of temperament (Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, (2025), 18, (1469467), 10.3389/fnmol.2025.1469467)
      Hebda-Bauer EK, Hagenauer MH, Munro DB, Blandino P, Meng F, Arakawa K, Stead JDH, Chitre AS, Ozel AB, Mohammadi P, Watson SJ, Flagel SB, Li J, Palmer AA, Akil H. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2026 Jan 1; 19: DOI:10.3389/fnmol.2026.1784625
    • Journal Article
      Field experimentation enhances translation for behavioral neuroscience
      Beehner JC, Flagel SB. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2026 Jan 1; 51 (1): 366 - 367. DOI:10.1038/s41386-025-02177-1
      PMID: 40707802
    • Preprint
      Chronic semaglutide treatment enhances the incentive motivational value of a small food reward and associated cue in male and female rats.
      Chang SE, Turner CA, Pagán NM, Pereira D, Kleer S, Flagel SB. 2025 Dec 10; DOI:10.64898/2025.12.06.692775
      PMID: 41415399

    Featured News & Stories

         A wild capuchin monkey approaches a "monkey cam" while research observe in the background
    Department News

    From the lab to the wild: Shelly Flagel’s research on brain, behavior, and the environment

    Explore how Shelly Flagel studies wild capuchin monkeys to uncover why reward cues shape vulnerability to addiction, ADHD, OCD and PTSD.
         Illustration of person swinging from a tree on a swing made of DNA. A version of the same person is sitting at the base of the tree with their head down.
    Medicine at Michigan

    Searching for the biology of mental illness

    For half a century, Michigan Medicine researchers have been working to understand why we feel the way we feel. Their findings have offered hope to patients with mental health conditions from anxiety and depression to addiction and bipolar disorder.