Organization
Marisa Roberto, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Molecular Medicine
Schimmel Family Chair
The Scripps Research Institute
La Jolla, California
Marisa Roberto, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. She is also an investigator in the Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research. Her current research focuses on the central effects of drugs of abuse. Specifically, she is studying the cellular physiology of the central nucleus of the amygdala, a brain structure involved in emotional processing. Dr. Roberto has identified important changes in the activity of both inhibitory and excitatory neurons using cellular recording of neuronal activity in slices of the amygdala after acute and chronic alcohol exposure. Neuropeptides such as corticotropin-releasing factor, neuropeptide Y and nociceptin/orphanin N/OFQ, as well as neuroimmune factors, have been found to play key roles in mediating these effects. Dr. Roberto won the Young Investigator Award from the Research on Alcoholism in 2005, she was the Presidential Award Recipient for the 2009 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and received the Jacob P. Waletzky Award from the Society of Neuroscience in 2016.
Scientific Committee
Howard C. Becker, Ph.D.
Rosana Camarini, Ph.D.
Roberto Ciccocioppo, Ph.D.
Fulton Crews, Ph.D.
Carolina L. Haass-Koffler, PharmD, Ph.D.
Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D.
Kathleen Grant, Ph.D.
Barbara Mason, Ph.D.
Emilio Merlo-Pich, M.D.
Robert Messing, M.D.
Edward Riley, Ph.D.
Marisa Roberto, Ph.D.
Yavin Shaham, Ph.D.
C. Fernando Valenzuela, M.D., Ph.D.
local organizing committee
Giovanni Addolorato, M.D.
Delia Belelli, Ph.D.
Roberto Ciccocioppo, Ph.D.
Giancarlo Colombo, M.D.
Karl Mann, M.D.
Miriam Melis, Ph.D.
Fernando Rodríguez de Fonseca, M.D., Ph.D.
Laura Soverchia, Ph.D.
Rainer Spanagel, Ph.D.
Philippe de Witte, Ph.D.
Massimo Ubaldi, Ph.D.
onsite
staff
Mellany Santos, Senior Lab Coordinator
Christopher Oleata, Personal Assistant
Bryan Cruz Ph.D., A/V Coordinator
Elena Sarperi, Foundation CRV
Massimo Ubaldi, Ph.D., A/V Coordinator
Valentina Vozella, Ph.D., A/V Coordinator
Esi Domi, Ph.D., A/V Coordinator
Eliana Gazzarri, Personal Assistant,
Art
&
Design
Website Design
Marisa Gallego
Photography
Christopher Oleata
Program Design
Marisa Gallego,
Mellany Santos, and
Christopher Oleata