Dr. Shane Hentges is the Chair of the Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience and the Director of the Neuroscience Program. Dr. Hentges studies food intake and reward with specific interest in how hedonic drives can motivate behaviors that are detrimental to health, such as in substance use and eating disorders. Current studies in this lab are primarily focused on the proopiomelanocortin neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus and their connections. These neurons play a critical role in maintaining energy balance and they release endorphins to encode reward. The primary methods used in the lab are patch clamp electrophysiology in brain slices, retrograde labeling by stereotaxic microinjection, opto- and chemogenetics, immunofluorescence and confocal imaging. Transgenic and knock-out mice are used routinely for our studies.
Education
- Postdoctoral Training, Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, 1999-2007
- PhD, Neuroscience, Washington State University, 1999
- BS, Genetics and Cell Biology; Washington State University, 1995
Research Interest
- Opioids
- Receptor Desensitization
- Energy Balance Regulation
- POMC
- Electrophysiology
Publications