WFUWake Forest University · Neuroscience
Alcohol and Brain Research Lab
Rong Chen · Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Research Focus
Dr. Rong Chen's lab focuses on understanding how chronic alcohol consumption affects brain function, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. The lab studies the relationship between alcohol exposure, cholesterol levels in the brain, and glutamate signaling, which is crucial for communication between neurons. By exploring these interactions, they aim to identify new targets for treating alcohol use disorders and associated behavioral issues like anxiety.
alcohol use disorderglutamate signalingcholesterol metabolismprefrontal cortexanxietyneurotransmissionCRISPRneural circuitssubcortical regions
Research Aims
4AIM 01Investigate the impact of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure on glutamate transmission in the prefrontal cortex.
AIM 02Examine how changes in cholesterol levels affect mGluR2 receptor function.
AIM 03Identify the molecular mechanisms linking alcohol exposure and anxiety-like behavior.
AIM 04Develop novel therapeutic targets based on cholesterol modulation for treating alcohol use disorder.
Skills the Lab Values
CRISPR/Cas9electrophysiologyanimal behavior assayscell culturerodent modelsmolecular biology techniquescholesterol analysisneuroscience techniquesdata analysis in R or Python
Output against the department
Publications370top 17% of dept.116th of 671
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations5.0kbottom 37% of dept.424th of 671
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.