Mulholland Lab

Dr. Mulholland is a tenured Professor with >20 years of experience studying neuroadaptations induced by in-vivo and in-vitro models of chronic alcohol exposure and repeated stress experiences with a history of funding from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr. Mulholland currently serves as the Vice Chair for the Department of Neuroscience where he directs the Faculty Mentoring and Grants Development programs. Dr. Mulholland is also the Co-Director of the Charleston Alcohol Research’s Pilot Core and is a member of the College of Medicine’s Mentoring Leadership Council.

Research Focus:

Dr. Mulholland’s research focuses on K+ channels and their role in modulating plasticity of glutamatergic synapses and intrinsic excitability associated with alcohol drinking and dependence and stress experiences. His research program utilizes a broad range of techniques (electrophysiology, confocal and light sheet imaging, molecular biology, pharmacology, fiber photometry, functional genomics, omics approaches, and behavioral paradigms) to explore neural mechanisms of alcohol misuse and stress neurobiology. Dr. Mulholland’s studies have focused on functional adaptations in cellular excitability in rodent and non-human primate alcohol drinking models. Moreover, His lab is using novel approaches and technologies to record and measure activity in neural subpopulations and circuits during ongoing behaviors, including excessive alcohol drinking and negative affective behaviors in rodents.

Team:

Director Patrick Mulholland, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice Chair
Department of Neuroscience
Charleston Alcohol Research Center

Staff and Students

Christopher Walker, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral fellow
Department of Neuroscience
Charleston Alcohol Research Center

Christina Lebonville, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral fellow
Department of Neuroscience
Charleston Alcohol Research Center

Krysten O'Hara
Graduate Student
Department of Neuroscience

Kathy Lindquist
Graduate Student
Department of Neuroscience
lindquik@musc.edu

Mulholland Laboratory Recent Publications  (2020-current)

Mulholland, P.J., Berto, S., Wilmarth, P.A., McMahan, C., Ball, L.E., Woodward, J.J. (2023) Adaptor protein complex 2 in the orbitofrontal cortex predicts alcohol use disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(11), 4766-4776.

Mulholland, P.J., Padula, A.E., Wilhem, L.J., Park, B., Grant, K.A., Ferguson, B., Cervera-Juanes, R. (2023) Cross-species epigenetic regulation of nucleus accumbens KCNN3 transcripts by heavy drinking. Translational Psychiatry, 13, 364.

Cannady, R., Nguyen, T., Padula, A.E., Rinker, J.A., Lopez, M.F., Becker, H.C., Woodward, J.J., Mulholland, P.J. (2021) Interaction of chronic intermittent ethanol and repeated stress on structural and functional plasticity in the mouse medial prefrontal cortex. Neuropharmacology, 182, 108396.

Padula, A.E., Rinker, J.A., Lopez, M.F., Mulligan, M.K., Williams, R.W., Becker, H.C., Mulholland, P.J. (2020) Bioinformatics identification and pharmacological validation of Kcnn3/KCa2 channels as a mediator of negative affective behaviors and excessive alcohol drinking in mice. Translational Psychiatry, 10(1), 414.

Bloch, S., Rinker, J.A., Marcus, M.M., Mulholland, P.J. (2020) Absence of effects of intermittent access to alcohol on negative affective and anxiety-like behaviors in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Alcohol, 88, 91-99.

Cannady, R., Nimitvilai-Roberts, S., Jennings, S.D., Woodward, J.J., Mulholland, P.J. (2020) Distinct region- and time-dependent functional cortical adaptations in C57BL/6J mice after short and prolonged alcohol drinking. eNeuro, 19:7(3).

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