Howard Becker, Ph.D.

Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Neuroscience
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Phone: (843) 792-5207
Fax: (843) 792-5204
Email: beckerh@musc.edu

Education:
B.S., Biology, State University of New York, at Buffalo (1979);
M.S., Bio-psychology, Rutgers University (1982);
Ph.D., Bio-psychology, Rutgers University (1984)

Research Interests:
Neuro-psychopharmacology of alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Mechanisms underlying initial sensitivity to CNS drug effects, as well as neuroadaptive changes that result from chronic drug exposure (tolerance and dependence).

Selected Recent Publications:

Jarvis, M.F. and Becker, H.C. Single and repeated episodes of ethanol withdrawal increase adenosine A1, but not A2A, receptor density in mouse brain. Brain Research 786(1-2):80-88, 1998.

Becker, H.C. Alcohol withdrawal: Neuroadaptation and sensitization. CNS Spectrums 438-465, 1999.

Becker, H.C. Animal models of alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol Research & Health: the Journal of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism 24(2):105-113, 2000.

Gonzalez, L.P., Veatch, L.M., Ticku, M.K. and Becker, H.C. Alcohol withdrawal kindling: Mechanisms and implications for treatment. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 25(5 Suppl 1):197S-201S, 2001.

Becker, H.C. and Veatch, L.M. Effects of lorazepam treatment for multiple ethanol withdrawals in mice. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 26(3):371-380, 2002.

Veatch, L.M. and Becker, H.C. Electrographic and behavioral indices of ethanol withdrawal sensitization. Brain Research 946(2):272-282, 2002.