Education
Ph.D., Psychology, Cornell University 2003
Advisor: Dr. Timothy J. Devoogd
B.A., Psychology, University of California, Berkeley 1997
Distinction
and High Honors in Research
Positions Held
Research Associate; Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, Department of Psychology 2009-pres
Post-doctoral Scholar; University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology; Advisor: Dr. Bernard W. Balleine 2006-2008
Adjunct Assistant Professor; Occidental College, Department of Psychology 2008
Post-doctoral Scholar; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Neurobiology; Advisor: Dr. Edda Thiels 2003-2006
Honors and Awards
Sage Fellowship, Cornell University 1998, 2000Honorable Mention, Frank Beach Award for Outstanding Publications in the Journal of Comparative Psychology 1998, 2000
Warner Brown Prize for Undergraduate Research in Psychology, UC Berkeley 1997
Kraft Scholar, UC Berkeley 1994
Grant Support
Current
PI, National Institute on Drug Abuse Behavioral Science Track Award for Rapid Transition (B/START) R03 DA026559 “Pavlovian Influences on Reward-seeking Behavior”. 05/15/2009-04/30/2010 $61,445
Previous
National Institute on Drug Abuse Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Post-doctoral Fellows 2006-2007
National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Training in the Neurobiology of Neurodegenerative Disease, Post-doctoral fellowship 2003-2005
National Institute of Mental Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Pre-doctoral Fellows 2001-2003
PublicationsPeer-Reviewed Articles
Shiflett, M.W., Brown, R.A., and Balleine, B.W. Acquisition and performance of goal-directed instrumental actions depends on ERK signaling in distinct regions of dorsal striatum in rats. Journal of Neuroscience in press.
Shiflett, M.W., Mauna, J.C., Chipman, A.M., Peet, E. and Thiels, E. (2009) Appetitive Pavlovian conditioned stimuli increase CREB phosphorylation in the nucleus accumbens. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 92(3): 451-4
Shiflett, M.W., Martini, R.P., Mauna, J., Foster, R.L., Peet, E. and Thiels, E. (2008) Cue-elicited reward seeking requires Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase activation in the Nucleus Accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience 28(6): 1434-43
Shiflett, M.W., Rankin, A.Z., Tomaszycki, M.L., and DeVoogd, T.J. (2004) Cannabinoid antagonism in the hippocampus improves memory in food-storing birds, but with a cost. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 271(1552):2043-8
Shiflett, M.W., Tomaszycki, M.L., Rankin, A.Z., DeVoogd, T.J. (2004) Long-term memory for spatial locations requires NMDA-receptor activation in the hippocampus of a food-storing bird. Behavioral Neuroscience 118(1):121-130.
Shiflett, M.W., Smulders, T.V., Benedict, L., DeVoogd, T.J. (2003) Reversible inactivation of the hippocampal formation in food-storing black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). Hippocampus 13(4):437-44.
Shiflett, M.W., Gould, K.L., Smulders, T.V., DeVoogd, T.J. (2002) Septum volume and food-storing behavior are related in parids. Journal of Neurobiology 51(3):215-22.
Smulders, T.V., Shiflett, M.W., Sperling, A.J., DeVoogd, T.J. (2000) Seasonal changes in neuron numbers in the hippocampal formation of a food-hoarding bird: the black-capped chickadee. Journal of Neurobiology 44(4):414-22.
Jacobs, L.F., and Shiflett, M.W. Spatial orientation on a vertical maze by free-ranging fox squirrels. (1999) Journal of Comparative Psychology 113(2) 116-27.
Lavenex P., Shiflett, M.W., Lee, R.K., Jacobs, L.F. (1998) Spatial versus non-spatial relational learning in free-ranging fox squirrels (Sciurus niger). Journal of Comparative Psychology 112(2) 127-36.
Submitted manuscripts
Shiflett, M.W., Balleine, B.W. Disconnection of basolateral amygdala from nucleus accumbens reveals dissociable components of incentive behavior in rats.
Abstracts and Presentations
Shiflett, M.W., Balleine, B.W. Disconnection of basolateral amygdala and nucleus accumbens dissociates the effects of expected and experienced reward on instrumental performance in rats. 39th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience Chicago IL
Zimmerman, E.K., Mauna, J.C., Shiflett, M.W., Chipman, A.M., Foster, R.L., Peet, E., Thiels, E. CREB phosphorylation in the nucleus accumbens: regulation by NMDA receptors and ERK activation. 38th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Washington DC
Shiflett, M.W., and Balleine, B.W. MAPK/ERK activation in the dorsomedial striatum is necessary for action-outcome encoding during instrumental conditioning. 37th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. San Diego CA.
Shiflett, M.W., Mauna, J. and Thiels, E. Reward-paired conditioned stimuli activate CREB in the nucleus accumbens. 36th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Atlanta GA
Thiels, E, Palmatier, M.I., Shiflett, M.W., Caggiula, A.R., Sved, A.F. ERK activation during drug primed reinstatement of nicotine self-administration. 35th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Washington DC
Shiflett, M.W., Martini, R.P., Golden, S., Thiels, E. Exposure to a reward-paired stimulus increases striatal ERK activation: implications for cue-induced drug craving. 35th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Washington DC.
Shiflett, M.W., Martini, R.P., Golden, S., Thiels, E. Increased striatal ERK activation following exposure to an appetitive conditioned stimulus. 7th annual Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meeting for Learning and Memory. Cold Spring Harbor NY
Shiflett, MW, Rabinowitz JS, Tarr, BA, Buchan ZR, DeVoogd TJ Captivity causes hippocampal shrinkage in a food-storing bird. 34th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. San Diego CA
Shiflett, MW, Rankin, AZ, and DeVoogd, TJ Opposing effects of NMDA-R and cannabinoid (CB1-R) inactivation on spatial memory in food-storing birds. 32ndAnnual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Orlando FL
Shiflett, MW, Gould, K.L., Smulders, T.V. and DeVoogd, T.J. Septum Volume and Food-storing Behavior are related in Parids. 31st Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. San Diego CA
Shiflett, M.W., Gould-Beierle, K.L., Smulders, T.V. and DeVoogd, T.J. Volume of the avian septal nucleus increases in relation to food-storing behavior. 6th International Congress of Neuroethology. Bonn, Germany.
Shiflett, M.W., Smulders, T.V., Benedict, L. and DeVoogd, T. J. Inactivation of the hippocampus impairs spatial but not visual memory in food-storing black capped chickadees (Poecile Atricapillus). 30th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. New Orleans LA
Jacobs, L.F. and Shiflett, M.W. Memory in an arboreal environment: Spatial orientation on a vertical maze in free-ranging fox squirrels. 29th Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience Los Angeles CA
Invited Talks
“Neural
Mechanisms Underlying Pavlovian and Instrumental Incentive
Learning” Psychology
Department Colloquium, Rutgers University Newark, Newark NJ
“Spatial memory and the hippocampus in food-storing Black-capped Chickadees” Animal Cognition Symposium, University of Western Ontario, London ON
Professional Memberships
Society for NeurosciencePavlovian Society
Ad-hoc Journal Reviews
Journal of Neuroscience
Teaching ExperienceCourses taught
Psychological Statistics, Occidental College 2008
Guest Lectures
“Addiction”, Foundations of Neuroscience, Rutgers University Newark 2009
Teaching Assistant
Introduction to Biopsychology, Cornell University
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Cornell University
Perception, Cornell University
Undergraduate Research Supervision
Current:
Jeniffer Rodriguez: Undergraduate student, Rutgers University
Roxana Morales: Undergraduate student, Rutgers University
Former:
Rebecca Foster: currently PhD student, CU Boulder
Jessica Levine: currently Research assistant, Caltech
Sam Golden: currently Post-baccalaureate researcher, NIDA
Ross Martini: currently MD student, Brown University
Jeremy Rabinowitz: currently PhD student, University of Rochester
Alex Rankin: currently MD student, Rosalind Franklin Medical School
Mike Kalogiannis: currently PhD student, New York Medical College
Lauryn Benedict: currently Post-doctoral fellow, UC Berkeley
Address :
Department of Psychology
Rutgers University Newark
101 Warren St.
Newark NJ 07102
973-353-1829
shiflett [at] psychology.rutgers.edu