Research Interests
I am interested in the neural processes that govern motivated behaviors tuned by hunger and satiety. Understanding how the value of food is integrated with prior experience is essential in producing adaptive behaviors. Diseases such as obesity hijack the central nervous system to turn behaviors maladaptive. My goal is to understand how neural circuits produce adaptive behaviors and how they may be derailed by diseases.
Publications
Konanur VR ... Roitman MF. Phasic dopamine responses to a food-predictive cue are suppressed by the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist Exendin-4. Phys & Behav. 2020.
Hsu TM ... Konanur VR ... Roitman MF. Thirst recruits phasic dopamine signaling through subfornical organ neurons. PNAS. 2020.
Noble EE ... Konanur VR ... Kanoski SE. Control of Feeding Behavior by Cerebral Ventricular Volume Transmission of Melanin-Concentrating Hormone. Cell Metab. 2018.