Richard C. Crist

Volitional cocaine taking engages distinct medium spiny neuron and astrocyte transcriptional programs in the rat nucleus accumbens

This study identifies cell type-specific transcriptional changes in the rat nucleus accumbens following voluntary cocaine self-administration using single-nucleus RNA sequencing.

Early resource scarcity drives persistent transcriptional changes and vascular remodeling in the female prefrontal cortex

This study identifies female-specific vascular transcriptional changes and structural remodeling in the adult mPFC following early resource scarcity using snRNAseq and 3D vascular reconstruction.

Mimicking opioid analgesia in cortical pain circuits

The paper identifies a cortical circuit in mice modulated by opioids and develops a gene therapy to mimic opioid analgesia for chronic pain.

Ventral hippocampus neurons encode meal-related memory

The paper identifies ventral hippocampus neurons that encode meal-related memories and shows their role in spatial memory and feeding behavior.

An endogenous GLP-1 circuit engages VTA GABA neurons to regulate mesolimbic dopamine neurons and attenuate cocaine seeking

This study identifies a GLP-1 circuit involving VTA GABA neurons that reduces cocaine seeking by modulating dopamine neuron activity.

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of medium spiny neurons in the rat nucleus accumbens

The paper analyzes single-nucleus RNA sequencing data from rat nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons to identify transcriptomic subtypes and their potential roles in substance use disorders.

A nociceptive amygdala-striatal pathway for chronic pain aversion

This study identifies a BLAnoci ensemble in the basolateral amygdala that mediates both acute and chronic pain behavior through a novel amygdala-striatal circuit involving the nucleus accumbens shell.

Cross-ancestry meta-analysis of opioid use disorder uncovers novel loci with predominant effects on brain

This study performs a cross-ancestry meta-analysis of opioid use disorder, identifying 14 loci, including 12 novel ones, and finding significant genetic correlations with psychiatric and neurological traits.

Multi-trait Analysis of GWAS (MTAG) of Substance Use Traits Identifies Novel Genetic Loci and Phenomic Associations

This paper applies MTAG to GWAS of substance use traits, identifying novel genetic loci and showing improved polygenic risk scores for four disorders.

Single-nuclei transcriptomics of schizophrenia prefrontal cortex primarily implicates neuronal subtypes

This study uses single-nuclei transcriptomics to identify differentially expressed genes in specific neuronal cell types from schizophrenia patients, linking them to schizophrenia and bipolar GWAS loci.

Restriction Enzyme Based Enriched L1Hs sequencing (REBELseq)

REBELseq identifies Ta subfamily L1 retrotransposon insertions in neuronal DNA from postmortem brain samples, revealing differences in insertion prevalence across individuals.

Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) in two population-based cohorts (N=141,932)

This paper performs a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of AUDIT scores in two cohorts, identifying risk loci and genetic correlations with alcohol consumption and psychiatric disorders.