LAB MEMBERS
Candice Contet
Principal Investigator
Candice is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research. She studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris) and conducted her Ph.D. research under the mentorship of Dr. Brigitte Kieffer (University of Strasbourg), studying opioid receptors and in vivo adaptations to their chronic activation. She then trained with Dr. Athina Markou (UCSD) and Dr. George Koob (Scripps Research) to gain expertise in rodent models of drug self-administration and addiction. Candice became faculty in 2011 and has since developed an NIH-funded research program dedicated to the elucidation of molecular and neural circuit mechanisms underlying excessive alcohol drinking.
Max Kreifeldt
Research Assistant
Max has been a Research Assistant in the Contet lab since 2012. He conducts behavioral testing, alcohol vapor exposure, stereotaxic surgeries, brain sectioning, and molecular analyses. His engineering skills and creative mindset are great assets for the design and improvement of our procedures and equipment.
Jeff Dunning
Staff Scientist
Jeff graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2017, did a first postdoc at Vanderbilt University, and joined the Contet lab in January 2021. He was promoted to Staff Scientist in September 2023. His goal is to leverage genetic models and optical techniques to investigate the activity of parasubthalamic neuronal ensembles in response to alcohol consumption, seeking, and withdrawal, as well as other rewarding and aversive stimuli. He is also developing methodologies for cell-type specific proteomics and other molecular assays.
Kiera Fleck
Graduate Student
Kiera is a graduate student in the Contet lab. She received her B.S.E in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics from Arizona State University in 2022. Her Ph.D. research project aims to unlock the molecular mechanism mediating the effects of chronic alcohol exposure on myelination. In her free time, Kiera enjoys playing the piano, baking, and visiting the beach.
Allison White
Postdoctoral Fellow
Allison graduated from West Virginia University in November 2023 and joined the Contet lab in February 2024 for her postdoctoral training. She was awarded a prestigious F99/K00 fellowship from NIH. Her goal is to explore molecular adaptations developing in brain astrocytes upon chronic alcohol exposure and the significance of gap junctions for the regulation of alcohol intake and neuronal excitability in alcohol dependence.
Interns
Leeann Shu (University of California San Diego)
Mahdi Shafiei (Scripps Research)
​Celeste Moreau (Cornell University - remote)
Tag Harris (Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences - remote)
Roxana Shahryari (Georgia Tech - remote)
ALUMNI
Harpreet Sidhu
Harpreet graduated from University of California Riverside in 2014 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Contet lab from September 2014 to October 2017. She identified molecular, cellular and behavioral alterations associated with withdrawal from chronic alcohol exposure in mice. She was awarded an F32 fellowship from NIAAA to study the implication of matrix metalloproteinases in the transition to alcohol dependence. Harpreet is now Senior Scientist at VitroLabs Inc.
Scott Goulding
Scott graduated from Colorado University in 2015 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Contet lab from June 2015 to August 2017. He conducted proteomic analysis of brain samples from alcohol-dependent mice and identified novel molecular adaptations driving alcohol drinking escalation. Scott is now a Senior Scientist II, Team Lead at BioNTech SE.
Pushpita Bhattacharyya
Pushpita graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2018 with a B.S. in Cognitive Science and was a Research Technician in the Contet lab from December 2019 to July 2020. She contributed her programming skills to write scripts for the analysis of fiber photometry signals, DIA mass spectrometry data, and circadian rhythmicity. Pushpita is currently a Research Associate at the The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.
Giovana Macedo
Giovana graduated from Federal University of Sao Paulo in 2017 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Contet lab from July 2018 to May 2021. She used her behavioral expertise to improve the characterization of alcohol abstinence in mice and identify behaviors driven by parasubthalamic neurons. She also contributed to analyzing molecular changes in brain regions of alcohol-dependent animals. Giovana was recruited as Scientist, In Vivo Pharmacology at HD Biosciences Co.
Briana Martinez
Briana graduated from Arizona State University in May 2020 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Contet lab from June 2020 to August 2021. She spearheaded the analysis of proteomic datasets in collaboration with the MacCoss and Torkamani laboratories to discover novel molecular determinants of ethanol drinking escalation. She leveraged her programming skills to implement network analysis and characterize proteome-wide effects of alcohol dependence/abstinence and their reversal by genetic and pharmacological manipulations. Briana is now Scientific Analyst at Morrison Foerster.
Agbonlahor Okhuarobo
Agbonlahor completed his Ph.D. research in the Contet lab from November 2018 to October 2021 and graduated from the University of Benin, Nigeria, in February 2022. He developed a mouse model of the interaction between early life stress and vulnerability to alcohol dependence. He also investigated the role of parasubthalamic CRF neurons in alcohol drinking escalation and withdrawal-associated negative affect, as well as the behavioral relevance of ethanol’s action at BK channels. Agbonlahor is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Toronto, Canada).
Catherine Lopez
Catherine graduate from University of California Davis with a B.A. in Linguistics and was a Research Assistant in the Contet lab from February 2021 to June 2024. Her animal handling skills were a great asset to our behavior-heavy projects. She was in charge of mouse genotyping and brain micropunching and coordinated our brain histology pipeline. She was also an amazing mentor to our high school interns and a dedicated outreach champion! Catherine is now a Research Associate at AlivaMab Biologics.
Colton Krull
Colton first joined the Contet lab in 2021-2022 as a volunteer. He graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of California San Diego. He rejoined the lab from January to May 2024 as a Research Assistant. He contributed to behavioral testing, brain sectioning, immunohistochemistry and imaging, while learning to run his own projects. Colton is now Research Assistant in the Ye lab at Scripps Research.
Visiting & rotating graduate students
Marcos Ucha-Tortuero (6-month visit from PhD program at National University of Distance Education, Spain, 2013)
Lea Giron (6-month visit from PharmD program at Strasbourg University, France, 2013-2014)
Ellie Petty (Scripps Research graduate program rotation, 2022)
Berta Escudero Moreno (6-month visit from PhD program at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, 2022-2023)​
Undergraduate students
Carissa Perez (University of California San Diego, 2012)
Roxana Shahryari (San Diego Miramar College, 2017-2018)
Ryan Hakim (University of California San Diego, 2018)
Tanvi Shah (Scripps College, 2018-2019)
Sophia Zhu (University of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Thao Nguyen (Newman University, 2019)
Maggie Angelo (California State University San Marcos, 2021-2022)
Colton Krull (University of California, San Diego, 2021-2022)
High school interns
Brandon Hedges (High Tech High Chula Vista, 2015)
Sophia Zhu (San Dieguito Academy, 2017)
Cesar Andres Contreras (Eastlake High School, 2020-2021)
Ashley Ma (Westview High School, 2020)
Maya Mehta (Torrey Pines High School, 2021-2023)
Kera Norris (High Tech High Point Loma, 2022)
Kimberly Rodriguez (Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound Program, 2022)
Celeste Moreau (La Jolla High School, 2022-2023)
Zion Marfo (High Tech High Point Loma, 2023)
Juana Herrera (Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound Program, 2023)
Diva Navarro (High Tech High Point Loma, 2024)
Danielle Nagal (High Tech High Point Loma, 2024)
Celeste Blake (Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound Program, 2024)
Nathan Santiago (Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound Program, 2024)