Michael Kuhar, Ph.D   Research Professor of Pharmacology and Division Chief                   Emory University         Division of Neuroscience         Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center         954 Gatewood Road NE         Atlanta, GA 30329         Tel: 404-727-1737         Fax: 404-727-3278         michael.kuhar@emory.edu                   Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1970         Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University 1970-1972           Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department Pharmacology, 1972-1985           Neuroscience Branch Chief, Intramural Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1985-1996           Chief, Division of Neuroscience, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, 1996-present.                   Research Interest:                   General interests include drug receptors and neurotransmitters, particularly their involvement in therapeutics and disease. Special interests include mechanisms of drug addiction, neurotransmitter transporters, and novel neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitter transporters are major mechanisms of neurotransmitter inactivation in brain and are targets for a variety of therapeutically important drugs such as antidepressants. Transporters are also important targets for psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and can be considered cocaine "receptors" that mediate the addicting properties of these drugs. Studies in our laboratory focus on mechanisms of regulation of transporters, the development of novel therapeutic agents for psychostimulant addicts, and the identification of novel neurotransmitters that mediate important physiologic processes. We employ a variety of molecular, biochemical, neuroanatomical, and behavioral techniques.               Publications