Megan Fox

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Neuroscience, and Experimental Therapeutics

Research Summary

Molecular and circuit-level mechanisms in reward, addiction, and stress.

Huck Affiliations

Most Recent Publications

A Drd1-cre mouse line exhibits resistance to fentanyl seeking and imbalanced gene expression in nucleus accumbens

Annalisa Montemarano, Logan Fox, Farrah Alkhaleel, Alexandria Ostman, Hajra Sohail, Samiksha Pandey, Laura Murdaugh, Megan Fox, 2025, Neuropsychopharmacology

Transcriptional signatures of fentanyl use in the mouse ventral tegmental area

Megan E. Fox, Annalisa Montemarano, Alexandria E. Ostman, Mahashweta Basu, Brian Herb, Seth A. Ament, Logan D. Fox, 2024, Addiction Biology

Molecular, Circuit, and Stress Response Characterization of Ventral Pallidum Npas1-Neurons

Gessynger Morais-Silva, Rianne R. Campbell, Hyungwoo Nam, Mahashweta Basu, Marco Pagliusi, Megan E. Fox, C. Savio Chan, Sergio D. Iñiguez, Seth Ament, Nathan Cramer, Marcelo Tadeu Marin, Mary Kay Lobo, 2023, Journal of Neuroscience on p. 405-418

Transcriptomic profiling of reward and sensory brain areas in perinatal fentanyl exposed juvenile mice

Jimmy Olusakin, Gautam Kumar, Mahashweta Basu, Cali A. Calarco, Megan E. Fox, Jason B. Alipio, Catherine Haga, Makeda D. Turner, Asaf Keller, Seth A. Ament, Mary Kay Lobo, 2023, Neuropsychopharmacology

The BDNF-TrkB Pathway Acts Through Nucleus Accumbens D2 Expressing Neurons to Mediate Stress Susceptible Outcomes

Marco Pagliusi, Daniela Franco, Shannon Cole, Gessynger Morais-Silva, Ramesh Chandra, Megan E. Fox, Sergio D. Iñiguez, Cesar R. Sartori, Mary Kay Lobo, 2022, Frontiers in Psychiatry

Chronic Physical and Vicarious Psychosocial Stress Alter Fentanyl Consumption and Nucleus Accumbens Rho GTPases in Male and Female C57BL/6 Mice

Daniela Franco, Andreas B. Wulff, Mary Kay Lobo, Megan E. Fox, 2022, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Transcriptome profiling of the ventral pallidum reveals a role for pallido-thalamic neurons in cocaine reward

Michel Engeln, Megan E. Fox, Ramesh Chandra, Eric Y. Choi, Hyungwoo Nam, Houman Qadir, Shavin S. Thomas, Victoria M. Rhodes, Makeda D. Turner, Rae J. Herman, Cali A. Calarco, Mary Kay Lobo, 2022, Molecular Psychiatry

Adaptations in Nucleus Accumbens Neuron Subtypes Mediate Negative Affective Behaviors in Fentanyl Abstinence

Megan E. Fox, Andreas B. Wulff, Daniela Franco, Eric Y. Choi, Cali A. Calarco, Michel Engeln, Makeda D. Turner, Ramesh Chandra, Victoria M. Rhodes, Scott M. Thompson, Seth A. Ament, Mary Kay Lobo, 2022, Biological Psychiatry

Mitochondria-Related Nuclear Gene Expression in the Nucleus Accumbens and Blood Mitochondrial Copy Number After Developmental Fentanyl Exposure in Adolescent Male and Female C57BL/6 Mice

Cali A. Calarco, Megan E. Fox, Saskia Van Terheyden, Makeda D. Turner, Jason B. Alipio, Ramesh Chandra, Mary Kay Lobo, 2021, Frontiers in Psychiatry

Individual differences in stereotypy and neuron subtype translatome with TrkB deletion

Michel Engeln, Yang Song, Ramesh Chandra, Ashley La, Megan E. Fox, Brianna Evans, Makeda D. Turner, Shavin Thomas, T. Chase Francis, Ronna Hertzano, Mary Kay Lobo, 2021, Molecular Psychiatry on p. 1846-1859

Most-Cited Papers

The molecular and cellular mechanisms of depression: a focus on reward circuitry

Megan E. Fox, Mary Kay Lobo, 2019, Molecular Psychiatry on p. 1798-1815

Dendritic remodeling of D1 neurons by RhoA/Rho-kinase mediates depression-like behavior

Megan E. Fox, Ramesh Chandra, Miriam S. Menken, Emily J. Larkin, Hyungwoo Nam, Michel Engeln, T. Chase Francis, Mary Kay Lobo, 2020, Molecular Psychiatry on p. 1022-1034

Cross-hemispheric dopamine projections have functional significance

Megan E. Fox, Maria A. Mikhailova, Caroline E. Bass, Pavel Takmakov, Raul R. Gainetdinov, Evgeny A. Budygin, R. Mark Wightman, 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 6985-6990

The Selective RhoA Inhibitor Rhosin Promotes Stress Resiliency Through Enhancing D1-Medium Spiny Neuron Plasticity and Reducing Hyperexcitability

T. Chase Francis, Alison Gaynor, Ramesh Chandra, Megan E. Fox, Mary Kay Lobo, 2019, Biological Psychiatry on p. 1001-1010

Enduring consequences of perinatal fentanyl exposure in mice

Jason B. Alipio, Adam T. Brockett, Megan E. Fox, Stephen S. Tennyson, Coreylyn A. deBettencourt, Dina El-Metwally, Nikolas A. Francis, Patrick O. Kanold, Mary Kay Lobo, Matthew R. Roesch, Asaf Keller, 2021, Addiction Biology

Perinatal Fentanyl Exposure Leads to Long-Lasting Impairments in Somatosensory Circuit Function and Behavior

Jason B. Alipio, Catherine Haga, Megan E. Fox, Keiko Arakawa, Rakshita Balaji, Nathan Cramer, Mary Kay Lobo, Asaf Keller, 2021, Journal of Neuroscience on p. 3400-3417

Reciprocal Catecholamine Changes during Opiate Exposure and Withdrawal

Megan E. Fox, T. Nathan Rodeberg, R. Mark Wightman, 2017, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 671-681

Dendritic spine density is increased on nucleus accumbens D2 neurons after chronic social defeat

Megan E. Fox, Antonio Figueiredo, Miriam S. Menken, Mary Kay Lobo, 2020, Scientific Reports

Divergent profiles of fentanyl withdrawal and associated pain in mice and rats

Olivia Uddin, Carleigh Jenne, Megan E. Fox, Keiko Arakawa, Asaf Keller, Nathan Cramer, 2021, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

Stress and drug dependence differentially modulate norepinephrine signaling in animals with varied HPA axis function

Megan E. Fox, R. Isaac Studebaker, Nathaniel J. Swofford, R. Mark Wightman, 2015, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 1752-1761