Rate My Professor Louise Risher

The research in the Risher Lab investigates how adolescent binge drinking influences brain function and contributes to the development of alcohol use disorder using rodent models of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure. The lab explores astrocyte contributions to ethanol-induced changes in neuronal structure, synaptic connectivity, function, and cognition, employing techniques such as intracranial surgeries, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, 3D image analysis, and behavioral assays. Key publications include "Adolescent intermittent alcohol exposure: persistence of structural and functional hippocampal abnormalities into adulthood" (Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015) and "Repeated exposures to low-level chlorpyrifos results in impairments in sustained attention and increased impulsivity in rats" (Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 2010). Risher has received an NIH grant to study binge drinking (2023) and a VA Merit Review grant for related research (2021). Her work elucidates glial roles in addiction pathology and has been cited over 1,300 times, impacting neuroscience research on underage drinking consequences.