Dora DukaEmeritus Professor
Research
Research Interests
My research interests are in the cognitive and emotional mechanisms involved in drug addiction using as examples alcohol and nicotine.
In my research I try to pursue the following questions:
How does drug and alcohol abuse (including binge drinking and multiple withdrawals) alter brain structure and function, and what are the cognitive and emotional consequences that contribute to the maintenance of addiction?
How do drug associated stimuli capture attention and control drug seeking behaviour? What are the implicit and explicit cognitive processes involved? what are the brain mechanisms underlying these effect?
What are the mechanisms mediating the effects of stress on craving for and consumption of alcohol in binge drinkers? reduced inhibitory control or increased responsiveness of reward pathways?
What are the mechanisms by which impulsivity contribute to addictive behaviours?
What is the role of emotional arousal in modulating impulsive behaviour and contributing to addictive behaviours? Do noradrenergic mechanisms play a role?
Current Research Support
Department of Health, National Institute for Health Research (DH NIHR): “A feasibility study of an intervention for structured preparation before detoxification in alcohol dependence: the SPADe trial” July 2017-June 2020 (coI Duka) Thirty six months £235K
European Commission Horizon 2020: Systems biology of Alcohol Addiction: Modelling and validatin disease state networks in human and animal brains for understanding pathophysiology, predicting outcomes and improving therapy” (PI Wolfgang Sommer, Germany); I am leader of Work Package 3: Examining noradrenergic mechanisms underlying the cognitive impairments seen in Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD)
Current Lab Members
Kiki Nikolaou
Aleksandra Maria Herman (Visiting scientist)
Mateo Leganes Fonteneau (Visiting Scientist)
Mehmet Uzun
Previous Lab Members
Aleksandra Maria Herman
Mateo Leganes Fonteneau
Leanne Trick
Stephens Jeffs
Katie Atwel
Kathleen Smith
Amy Caswell
Claire Mathers
Lee Hogarth
Julia Townshend
Matt Field
Sarah Garfinkel
Abi Rose
Ruth Weissenborn
Collaborators
Â鶹´«Ã½ of Sussex
Hugo Critchley (Brighton & Sussex Medical School)
Hans Crombag (Psychology)
Dai Stephens (Psychology)
Zoltan Dienes (Psychology)
Mara Cerignani (Brighton & Sussex Medical School)
Other Institutes
Wolfgang Sommer (Â鶹´«Ã½ of Heidelberg, Germany)
Christos Kouimtsidis (Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London)
Sabine Steins-Löber (Otto-Friedrich Bamberg Â鶹´«Ã½, Germany)
Fabien Gerski (Â鶹´«Ã½ of Reims Champagne-Ardenne)
Mickael Naassila (Â鶹´«Ã½ of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens)
Selected Publications Associated with ongoing research in my lab
- Jeffs S, Duka T (2017) Predictive but not emotional value of Pavlovian stimuli leads to pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. Behav Brain Res. Mar 15; 321:214
- Brown, Chris RH, Forster,Sophie and Duka, T (2018) r . Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 190.pp.209-215.
- Herman, Aleksandra M, Critchley, Hugo D and Duka, T (2019) European Journal of Neuroscience. Aug; 50(3): 2297-2310
- Leganes-Fonteneau M, Nikolaou K, Scott R, Duka T. . Learn Mem. Feb 15; 26 (3):66-76