The main focus of Dr. Pendyala’s lab is understanding how chronic drug addiction (cf. opioids, psychostimulants) leads to synaptic alterations and subsequent behavioral changes. While one arm focuses on understanding sex differences with drug relapse, another area is elucidating how drug abuse during and after pregnancy impacts neurodevelopment in the exposed offspring using in vivo model systems. The lab also employs state of the art ‘omics’ technologies to identify potential biomarkers in both tissue and biofluids (plasma, CSF) including decoding their associated mechanisms in vitro. Research in his lab is supported by funding from the NIH, Dept. of Defense, State of Nebraska, Children’s Hospital, Lieberman Foundation, and startup funds from the Dept. of Anesthesiology.