David H. Root, PhD

David Root is an expert in the neurobiology of motivation-related behaviors. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Rutgers University examining the neurophysiology of drug-seeking behavior with Dr. Mark West. As a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse with Dr. Marisela Morales, he identified motivation-related functions of genetically-defined ventral tegmental area neurons and their pathways. He is a Boettcher Investigator and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at The University of Colorado, Boulder. His lab seeks to identify the precise neuronal cell-types, pathways, and signaling molecules that control motivation-related behaviors such as the pursuit of rewards, the avoidance of aversive stimuli, and related cognitive processes that can become altered by brain-related disorders.