Michel Companion, a graduate student in Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience, is the recipient of the 2018 King Research Excellence Award.
This award honors the late Dr. Richard King, a Professor of Psychology at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, for his many contributions to our department over the years. This award recognizes research excellence.
Michel is working on his doctoral thesis involving the investigation of a multi-circuit model involved with binge-like ethanol consumption stemming from the central amygdala, relaying through the lateral habenula, and, ultimately, projecting to the rostral tegmental area; an area primarily involved in aversion. He plans on using funding from the King Award to create a new viral vector in order to target specific cell types within the RMTg so he may develop a multiplex, chemogenetic manipulation of two circuits simultaneously.