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Home > For Health Professionals > Legacy Research Institute > Research > Scientists > Barbara A. Sorg, PhD
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Barbara Sorg, PhD

Barbara A. Sorg, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist
R.S. Dow Endowed Chair of Neurobiology 
Legacy Research Institute

Phone: 503-413-1934  |  Email: bsorg@downeurobiology.org 

CV (Updated July 2024) | Peer Reviewed Publications
R.S. Dow Neurobiology Laboratories
ORCID iD iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4913-4910

Short Bio:

Dr. Sorg earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park. Following her doctoral studies, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington State University in Pullman, where she later joined the faculty as a tenure-track Assistant Professor and was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2004. Dr. Sorg dedicated 14 years to leading the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program and co-directed the Translational Addiction Research Program for 8 years at WSU.

In 2019, Dr. Sorg brought her expertise to LRI, focusing on expanding her translational research initiatives while maintaining her foundational research into the underlying mechanisms of cocaine addiction and exploring potential treatment strategies. 

Research Interests:

  • Perineuronal nets in cocaine addiction

  • Circadian rhythms, sleep, and memory

  • Role of the prefrontal cortex in cocaine-associated memories

Publication Highlights:

Net gain and loss: Influence of natural rewards and drugs of abuse on perineuronal nets. Brown, TE, and Sorg BA. 
Neuropsychopharmacol. (2023) Jan;48(1):3-20.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35568740/

Enhanced expression of parvalbumin and perineuronal nets in the medial prefrontal cortex after extended-access cocaine self-administration in rats.
Wingert JC, Anguiano JN, Ramos JD, Blacktop JM, Gonzalez AE, Churchill L, Sorg BA.
Addict Biol.2023 Nov;28(11):e13334.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37855072/

Sorg BA, Wisor JP. Chronic dietary supplementation with nicotinamide riboside reduces sleep need in the laboratory mouse.
Bushana PN, Schmidt MA, Rempe MJ, Sorg BA, Wisor JP.
Sleep Adv. 2023 Dec 20;4(1):zpad044.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38152423/

A systematic review of extracellular matrix-related alterations in Parkinson’s disease.
Chapman MA, Sorg BA.
Brain Sci. 2024 May 21;14(6):522.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38928523/

Perineuronal nets in the rat medial prefrontal cortex alter hippocampal-prefrontal oscillations and reshape cocaine self-administration memories.
Wingert JC, Ramos JD, Reynolds SX, Gonzalez AE, Rose RM, Hegarty DM, Aicher SA, Bailey LG, Brown TE, Abbas AI, Sorg BA.
J Neurosci. 2024 Jul 11:e0468242024.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38991791/

Current Lab Members:

  • Zada Anderson (Research Assistant) 

  • Jonny Ramos (Research Assistant)

  • Sebastian Reynolds (Research Assistant)

Research Focus:

The main projects in my lab focus on how to prevent relapse to cocaine in rats. We use conditioned place preference and drug self-administration models to determine how to diminish drug-associated memories that are thought to cause relapse behavior.

To diminish drug-associated memories, we examine the process of reconsolidation, wherein prior memories can be recalled and subsequently disrupted with appropriate pharmacological agents so that only the recalled memory is diminished. We focus on using specific pharmacological or chemogenetic agents in the prefrontal cortex to disrupt consolidation and reconsolidation of the memories associated with cocaine, thereby suppressing drug-seeking behavior and relapse.

Most of our studies focus on an extracellular matrix structure called the perineuronal net, which is important for acquiring and maintaining drug-associated memories. One function of perineuronal nets is to allow for normal firing of their underlying fast-spiking, parvalbumin interneurons, which regulate the excitatory:inhibitory balance in the brain. We have found that both parvalbumin and perineuronal nets change with the day:night cycle and are most likely regulated by circadian rhythms. Recent studies in our lab use in vivo electrophysiology to decipher how brain oscillations and single cells respond during cocaine-seeking behavior in rats to better understand how brain oscillations might be modified to prevent relapse in humans.