Nikki Crowley

Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology & Neural Engineering; Assistant Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering; Associate Director for Postdoctoral Training and Leadership, Center for Neural Engineering

Nikki Crowley

Research Summary

Investigation of peptidergic transmission throughout the brain, using cell-specific and pathway-specific manipulations to understand how peptides alter neuronal signaling and behavior, particularly in the context of stress and drug use.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Links

Publication Tags

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Neurons Brain Anxiety Ethanol Kappa Opioid Receptor Dynorphins Somatostatin Alcohols Prefrontal Cortex Septal Nuclei Peptides Central Amygdaloid Nucleus Alcohol Drinking Binge Drinking Amygdala Basolateral Nuclear Complex Neurotensin Reward Neuropeptides Corpus Striatum Depression Parabrachial Nucleus Drive Sucrose Alcoholism

Most Recent Publications

Targeted and transient opening of the blood brain barrier in discrete neurocircuits and brain regions

Nicole A. Crowley, Scott H. Medina, 2023, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 253-254

An innovative approach to examining the role of neurotransmitters in fear circuitry

Keith R. Griffith, Nicole A. Crowley, 2022, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 2175-2176

Somatostatin neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis play a sex-dependent role in binge Drinking

Malini Suresh Nair, Nigel C. Dao, Daniela Lopez Melean, Keith R. Griffith, W. David Starnes, J. Brody Moyer, Avery R. Sicher, Dakota F. Brockway, Kathleen D. Meeks, Nicole A. Crowley, 2022, Journal of Electrophysiological Techniques on p. 38-46

Adolescent Alcohol and Stress Exposure Rewires Key Cortical Neurocircuitry

Avery R. Sicher, Arielle Duerr, William D. Starnes, Nicole A. Crowley, 2022, Frontiers in Neuroscience

Developing breakthrough psychiatric treatments by modulating G protein-coupled receptors on prefrontal cortex somatostatin interneurons

Nicole A. Crowley, Max E. Joffe, 2022, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 389-390

Somatostatin neurons control an alcohol binge drinking prelimbic microcircuit in mice

Nigel C. Dao, Dakota F. Brockway, Malini Suresh Nair, Avery R. Sicher, Nicole A. Crowley, 2021, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 1906-1917

Forced Abstinence From Alcohol Induces Sex-Specific Depression-Like Behavioral and Neural Adaptations in Somatostatin Neurons in Cortical and Amygdalar Regions

Nigel C. Dao, Malini Suresh Nair, Sarah N. Magee, J. Brody Moyer, Veronica Sendao, Dakota F. Brockway, Nicole A. Crowley, 2020, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Manipulations of central amygdala neurotensin neurons alter the consumption of ethanol and sweet fluids in mice

María Luisa Torruella-Suárez, Jessica R. Vandenberg, Elizabeth S. Cogan, Gregory J. Tipton, Adonay Teklezghi, Kedar Dange, Gunjan K. Patel, Jenna A. McHenry, J. Andrew Hardaway, Pranish A. Kantak, Nicole A. Crowley, Jeffrey F. DiBerto, Sara P. Faccidomo, Clyde W. Hodge, Garret D. Stuber, Zoé A. McElligott, 2020, Journal of Neuroscience on p. 632-647

Full function of exon junction complex factor, Rbm8a, is critical for interneuron development

Colleen McSweeney, Fengping Dong, Miranda Chen, Jessica Vitale, Li Xu, Nicole Crowley, Bernhard Luscher, D Zou, Yingwei Mao, 2020, Translational Psychiatry

Turning the ′Tides on Neuropsychiatric Diseases: The Role of Peptides in the Prefrontal Cortex

Dakota F. Brockway, Nicole A. Crowley, 2020, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Most-Cited Papers

A New DREADD Facilitates the Multiplexed Chemogenetic Interrogation of Behavior

Eyal Vardy, J. Elliott Robinson, Chia Li, Reid H.J. Olsen, Jeffrey F. DiBerto, Patrick M. Giguere, Flori M. Sassano, Xi Ping Huang, Hu Zhu, Daniel J. Urban, Kate L. White, Joseph E. Rittiner, Nicole A. Crowley, Kristen E. Pleil, Christopher M. Mazzone, Philip D. Mosier, Juan Song, Thomas L. Kash, C. J. Malanga, Michael J. Krashes, Bryan L. Roth, 2015, Neuron on p. 936-946

Distinct Subpopulations of Nucleus Accumbens Dynorphin Neurons Drive Aversion and Reward

Ream Al-Hasani, Jordan G. McCall, Gunchul Shin, Adrian M. Gomez, Gavin P. Schmitz, Julio M. Bernardi, Chang O. Pyo, Sung Il Park, Catherine M. Marcinkiewcz, Nicole A. Crowley, Michael J. Krashes, Bradford B. Lowell, Thomas L. Kash, John A. Rogers, Michael R. Bruchas, 2015, Neuron on p. 1063-1077

Chronic alcohol produces neuroadaptations to prime dorsal striatal learning

Lauren DePoy, Rachel Daut, Jonathan L. Brigman, Kathryn MacPherson, Nicole Crowley, Ozge Gunduz-Cinar, Charles L. Pickens, Resat Cinar, Lisa M. Saksida, George Kunos, David M. Lovinger, Timothy J. Bussey, Marguerite C. Camp, Andrew Holmes, 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 14783-14788

LRRK2 regulates synaptogenesis and dopamine receptor activation through modulation of PKA activity

Loukia Parisiadou, Jia Yu, Carmelo Sgobio, Chengsong Xie, Guoxiang Liu, Lixin Sun, Xing Long Gu, Xian Lin, Nicole A. Crowley, David M. Lovinger, Huaibin Cai, 2014, Nature Neuroscience on p. 367-376

Effects of chronic ethanol exposure on neuronal function in the prefrontal cortex and extended amygdala

Kristen E. Pleil, Emily G. Lowery-Gionta, Nicole A. Crowley, Chia Li, Catherine A. Marcinkiewcz, Jamie H. Rose, Nora M. McCall, Antoniette M. Maldonado-Devincci, A. Leslie Morrow, Sara R. Jones, Thomas L. Kash, 2015, Neuropharmacology on p. 735-749

Dynorphin Controls the Gain of an Amygdalar Anxiety Circuit

Nicole A. Crowley, Daniel W. Bloodgood, J. Andrew Hardaway, Alexis M. Kendra, Jordan G. McCall, Ream Al-Hasani, Nora M. McCall, Waylin Yu, Zachary L. Schools, Michael J. Krashes, Bradford B. Lowell, Jennifer L. Whistler, Michael R. Bruchas, Thomas L. Kash, 2016, Cell Reports on p. 2774-2783

Kappa opioid receptor signaling in the brain: Circuitry and implications for treatment

Nicole A. Crowley, Thomas L. Kash, 2015, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry on p. 51-60

Neuropeptide regulation of signaling and behavior in the BNST

Thomas L. Kash, Kristen E. Pleil, Catherine A. Marcinkiewcz, Emily G. Lowery-Gionta, Nicole Crowley, Christopher Mazzone, Jonathan Sugam, J. Andrew Hardaway, Zoe A. McElligott, 2015, Molecules and Cells on p. 1-13

Glutamatergic mechanisms associated with stress-induced amygdala excitability and anxiety-related behavior

Sophie Masneuf, Emily Lowery-Gionta, Giovanni Colacicco, Kristen E. Pleil, Chia Li, Nicole Crowley, Shaun Flynn, Andrew Holmes, Thomas Kash, 2014, Neuropharmacology on p. 190-197

Manipulations of central amygdala neurotensin neurons alter the consumption of ethanol and sweet fluids in mice

María Luisa Torruella-Suárez, Jessica R. Vandenberg, Elizabeth S. Cogan, Gregory J. Tipton, Adonay Teklezghi, Kedar Dange, Gunjan K. Patel, Jenna A. McHenry, J. Andrew Hardaway, Pranish A. Kantak, Nicole A. Crowley, Jeffrey F. DiBerto, Sara P. Faccidomo, Clyde W. Hodge, Garret D. Stuber, Zoé A. McElligott, 2020, Journal of Neuroscience on p. 632-647

News Articles Featuring Nikki Crowley

Feb 20, 2023

New Student Spotlight video highlights neuroscience's Avery Sicher

The latest entry in the Student Spotlight series from the Huck Institutes covers Avery Sicher, a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program, and her research on the effects of alcohol consumption on brain development.

Full Article

Jan 17, 2023

Crowley receives Huck Early Career Chair appointment

Nikki Crowley, assistant professor of biology and biomedical engineering, has been named the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Full Article

Nov 10, 2022

New research on effects of binge drinking earns biologist early career award

Nikki Crowley, assistant professor of biology and biomedical engineering at Penn State, is the 2022 recipient of the Neuropsychopharmacology Editor’s Early Career Award.

Full Article

Jul 11, 2022

Penn State biologist receives NIH grant to help unlock biology of binge drinking

Nikki Crowley, assistant professor of biology and of biomedical engineering at Penn State, has been awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the neurobiology of binge alcohol drinking.

Full Article

Jun 23, 2022

Neuroscience grad student awarded grant to study adolescent binge drinking

Avery Sicher, a graduate student in the neuroscience program at Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, has received a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support her continued research. Sicher is one of few Huck students to receive this recognition.

Full Article

Apr 06, 2022

First round of funded projects announced from the Benkovic Research Initiative

Four projects have been announced as recipients of funding from the Patricia and Stephen Benkovic Research Initiative, which supports risky, highly innovative investigation at the interface of chemistry and the life sciences.

Full Article