Seminar – Jacques Nguyen, PhD

Prior to joining Baylor University, Dr. Nguyen was a Project Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute in the Department of Neuroscience and in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Taffe. Dr. Nguyen received his Ph.D. at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience and in the laboratories of Drs. Michael Forster and Michael Gatch. He received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Nguyen is a recipient of the K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health. His research program currently focuses on the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms of substance use and addiction. Dr. Nguyen has significant experience in rodent-based behavioral models, including but not limited to intravenous self-administration, drug discrimination, locomotor activity assessment, and intracranial self-stimulation. Overall, Dr. Nguyen’s work has resulted in several published manuscripts in scientific journals, and his work has been recognized by scientific research organizations including the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Nguyen is committed to service, participating as a subcommittee member for various scientific meetings and professional societies, as an ad hoc manuscript reviewer, and as a judge for competitive undergraduate/graduate programs and presentations. Dr. Nguyen joined the Baylor University Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in 2022.

The Nguyen lab is interested in the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the onset and development of substance use disorders and addiction. Areas of focus in the lab include neural circuits mediating drug-seeking behavior and dependence, the neurobiological effects of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) vapor exposure, and the behavioral and physiological consequences following exposure to opioids and cannabinoids. As a recipient of the K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Nguyen currently investigates mechanisms of opioid addiction, including kappa opioid receptor contributions to a compulsive-like escalation in oxycodone self-administration using chemogenetic methodology. His research program incorporates multidisciplinary methodologies (behavioral, molecular, and biochemical) to study mechanisms of reward and stress, which are closely associated with substance use, addiction, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.