Mohamed Kabbaj Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies

mohamed.kabbaj@med.fsu.edu
850-644-4930
Appointment: Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences
Courses: Neuropharmacology
Research Lab Site
Job Description
Dr. Kabbaj is an Associate Professor conducting research in the area of stress and drug addiction. Dr. Kabbaj teaches a new course in Neuropharmacology within the neuroscience program and facilitates small-group sessions with medical students.
Biosketch
Dr. Kabbaj earned his Ph.D. at Bordeaux II University (France), and then completed five years of postdoctoral study at the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Dr. Kabbaj joined the department of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine in August 2002.
Education
B.Sc., Animal Physiology, Neuroscience option, University of Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco, 1991

M.S., Neurosciences and Pharmacology, University of Bordeaux II, France, Laboratoire de Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs, 1992

Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy, Neurosciences and Pharmacology, Unversity of Bordeaux II, France, Laboratoire de Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs, 1997

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, University of Michigan, School of Medicine, Mental Health Research Institute, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1997-2001

Research Investigator, University of Michigan, School of Medicine, Mental Health Research Institute, Ann Arbor, Mich., 2001-2002
Service
Dr. Kabbaj is the director of the Graduate Studies within the Biomedical Sciences department. He is also on the executive committee, faculty search committee and library committe within the same department. Dr. kabbaj also serves on the FSU faculty senate and senate library committee. He also serves on the by law committee of the program in Neuroscience, and on the Fulbright Student Selection Committee.
Honors/Awards
2009: Faculty Council Award Outstanding Senior Faculty Researcher
Memberships
American Society for Neuroscience
Research Focus
Dr. Kabbaj focuses his research on the brain basis of emotional behavior. Simply put, Dr. Kabbaj is asking: What is it in our brains that makes us different from each other in the way we react emotionally? Why are some of us very prone to stress and others not? Why are some willing to take risks and try new adventures, while others are timid and fearful? Why are some prone to becoming addicted to harmful drugs (such as cocaine or heroin), while others readily avoid them? The basis of these differences is in our genes, in our brains, but also in our environment, the way we develop and the way we interact with others around us. Dr. Kabbaj is working on an excellent animal model for asking, and answering, these complex questions. Dr. Kabbaj has already made some discoveries on the brain basis of these differences in emotionality. Moreover, the work addresses questions of great importance to psychiatric disorders, including depression, and substance abuse.
Publications
Selected from a total of 29 publications:

* Kabbaj M, Devine D.P, Savage V and Akil H (2000) Neurobiological Correlates of Individual Differences in Novelty-Seeking Behavior in the Rat: Differential Expression of Stress-Related Molecules. Journal of Neuroscience, 20: 6983-6988.

* Kabbaj M and Akil H (2001) “Individual differences in Novelty-Seeking Behavior in rats: a cfos study”. Neurosciences, 106 (3): 535-545.

* M. Kabbaj, C.S. Norton, S. Kollack-Walker, T. E. Robinson, S.J. Watson and H. Akil1 (2001) Social Defeat alters the acquisition of cocaine self-administration in rats: role of Individual Differences in cocaine taking-behavior. Psychopharmacology. 158 (4): 382-387.

* M. Kabbaj*, C. Isgor, S. J. Watson, H. Akil (2002) Stress During Adolescence Alters Behavioral Sensitization to Amphetamine. Neuroscience, 113 (2): 395-400.

* Evans SJ, Datson N, Kabbaj M, Thompson RC, Vreugdenhil, DeKloet ER, Watson SJ and Akil H (2002) Evaluation of Affymetrix Gene Chip Sensitivity in rat hippocampal tissue using SAGE analysis. European Journal of Neuroscience, 16(3):409-413.

* Kabbaj M (2004) Neurobiological bases of individual differences in emotional and stress responsiveness: high responders/low responders model. Arch Neurol. Jul; 61(7):1009-12. Review

* Dietz D.M, Tapocik J, Gaval-Cruz M and Kabbaj M (2005) Dopamine transporter, but not tyrosine hydroxylase, may be implicated in determining individual differences in behavioral sensitization to amphetamine. Physiology and Behavior: 86(3):347-55

* Kabbaj M (2006): Individual vulnerability to drug abuse: the high responders/low responders model. CDT-CNS Neurological Disorders special issue on the effects of Stress on brain function. Review. Volume 5, 513-520.

* M Kabbaj, S. Morley-Fletcher, M. Le Moal, PV. Piazza and S. Maccari (2007) Individual differences in the effects of chronic prazosin treatment on hippocampal mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors. European Journal of Neurosciences 25(11):3312-8.

Dietz D and H. Wang and Kabbaj M (2007) Corticosterone fails to produce conditioned place preference or place aversion. Behavioral Brain Research: 18 (2): 287-291.

*Kabbaj M and C Isgor (2007) Effects of chronic environmental and social stimuli during adolescence on mesolimbic dopaminergic circuitry markers. Neuroscience Letters: 422: 7-12.

*Dietz DM, Dietz KC, Moore S, Ouimet C and Kabbaj M (2008)Repeated social defeat stress-induced sensitization to the locomotor activating effects of d-amphetamine: role of individual differences. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 198(1):51-62.

*William Renthal, Arvind Kumar, Guanghua Xiao, Matthew Wilkinson, Herbert E. Covington, III, Ian Maze, Devanjan Sikder, Alfred J. Robison, Quincey LaPlant, David M. Dietz, Scott J. Russo, Vincent Vialou, Sumana Chakravarty, Thomas J. Kodadek, Ashley Stack, Mohamed Kabbaj and Eric J. Nestler (2009) Genome Wide Promoter Analysis of Histone Modifications induced by Cocaine; Neuron 62: 335-348

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