Marek Schwendt, Ph.D.

Marek Schwendt, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Dr. Marek Schwendt
Department of Psychology
University of Florida
P.O. Box 112250
Gainesville, FL 32611-2250
Email: schwendt@ufl.edu

Position

Dr. Schwendt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Research Area

Dr. Schwendt’s research focuses on psychostimulant induced neuroplasticity underlying persistent drug-seeking and cognitive impairments.

Training

M.S., Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Ph.D., Institute of Exp. Endocrinology & University of P.J. Safarik, Bratislava, Slovakia
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Current Research

Dr. Schwendt is interested in what causes drug addiction to be a chronic relapsing disorder.  He is interested in identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying relapse and drug-induced cognitive deficits which persist well into abstinence.  His research utilizes an animal model with high-face validity for human addiction: operant drug self-administration in combination with tasks designed to test memory performance in animals.  In particular, his research attempts to elucidate the role of modulatory proteins that ‘fine-tune’ synaptic transmission during development of drug-induced neural plasticity, and further, to investigate whether in vivo manipulation of these proteins can attenuate or reverse drug-seeking and drug-induced cognitive deficits. Dr. Schwendt believes that characterization of the molecular underpinnings of the long-lasting behavioral consequences of repeated drug administration will provide critical insight into the psychopathology of drug addiction and related psychiatric disorders (including schizophrenia and depression).

Recent Publications

Knackstedt L.A., Trantham-Davidson H.L., Schwendt M. The role of ventral and dorsal striatum mGluR5 in relapse to cocaine-seeking and extinction learning. Addiction Biology 19: 87-101, 2014.

Schwendt M., Reichel C.M., See R.E.: Extinction-dependent alterations in corticostriatal mGluR2/3 and mGluR7 receptors following chronic methamphetamine self-administration in rats. PLoS One, 7: e34299, 2012.

Schwendt M., McGinty J.F.: RGS4 overexpression in the rat dorsal striatum modulates mGluR5- and amphetamine-mediated behavior and signaling. Psychopharmacology, 221: 621-35, 2012.

Reichel C.M., Ramsey L.A., Schwendt M., McGinty J.F., See R.E.: Methamphetamine-induced changes in the object recognition memory circuit. Neuropharmacology, 62: 1119-26, 2012.

Reichel C.M., Schwendt M., McGinty J.F., Olive M.F., See R.E. Loss of object recognition memory produced by extended access to methamphetamine self-administration is reversed by positive allosteric modulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5. Neuropsychopharm 36:782-92, 2011.