The Palmer Lab explores the genetic underpinnings of behaviors related to addiction and other psychiatric disorders and traits. The Palmer Lab uses both humans and model organisms, employing quantitative genetics to understand how genetic variation gives rise to differences in behavior. By identifying genes that influence behavior we hope to obtain fundamental mechanistic insights into the molecular basis of both health and disease. Such insights are critical to identifying new and more effective targets for pharmacologic interventions to improve psychiatric health. Much of the Palmer Lab's work uses genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify chromosome regions and ultimately genes within those regions that influence behavioral and other traits.
Dr. Palmer is the director of the Center for GWAS in Outbred Rats (www.ratgenes.org), which was first funded by the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) in 2014. That center has helped to develop outbred N/NIH Heterogeneous Stock (HS) rats for GWAS. The center currently supports multiple GWAS projects examining self-administration of drugs including nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, oxycodone, and heroin. In addition to drug self-administration, other projects examine behaviors relevant to addiction, including delay discounting, sustained attention, reward processing, social behaviors, anxiety, and exploratory behaviors. Collectively, these projects have phenotyped and genotyped approximately 20,000 HS rats. In addition to behavioral traits, the center has also supported studies of physiological traits including body size and weight, physical properties of bone, muscle weight, intraocular pressure, renal agenesis, microbiome, and cecal metabolome. In an effort to link chromosomal regions identified by GWAS to specific genes, the center has examined molecular phenotypes, particularly gene expression as measured by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). We have used RNA-seq data from more than 2,000 HS rats to identify the genetic control of gene expression, often called expression QTLs (eQTLs) in the brain and other tissues; these data are publicly available at www.RatGTEx.org. Finally, Dr. Palmer has several projects that seek to translate findings between model organisms and humans using a variety of emerging techniques.
Another major focus of the Palmer Lab are human GWAS and related approaches. Most of this work uses large population-based cohorts, including ongoing collaborative work with 23andMe, as well as UK Biobank and other cohorts. One focus has been on the problematic consequences of alcohol use, as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), which is a 10-item survey that has been widely deployed in various populations. Dr. Palmer has also studied impulsivity-related traits including delay discounting, UPPS-P, and BIS as well as related work with the Externalizing Consortium (www.externalizing.org). Other traits examined in humans include loneliness, cannabinoid and caffeine consumption. More recent work has examined opioid use, including ‘using prescription opioid not as prescribed,’ and the subjective effects of opioids.
The Palmer Lab has pursued several genes that have been identified in humans and model organisms. Genes of particular interest to the lab include casein kinase 1 epsilon (Csnk1e), CUB and Sushi multiple domains 1 (Csmd1), cadherin 13 (Cdh13), transcription factor 7 like 2 (Tcf7l2), calcium voltage-gated channel subunit alpha1 C (Cacna1c), glyoxalase 1 (Glo1), and cell adhesion molecule 2 (Cadm2). Recent publications are listed in Dr. Palmer’s CV, and can also be found by searching PubMed.
Our laboratory includes various types of trainees including undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Research projects may incorporate both wet and dry lab research and include individuals with behavioral neuroscience, molecular genetics, statistical genetics and computational backgrounds. More information for those interested in joining the lab is available here.
Dr. Palmer is part of the Training Faculty for the following training grants (also listed in his CV):
- Fellowship in Biopsychiatry and Neuroscience (UC San Diego)
The fellowship is a 2-year program that is aimed at training physicians, psychologists, and PhD scientists in conducting research towards the understanding of the biological underpinnings of mental disorders. - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
T32 Alcohol Research Training Grant (San Diego State University Research Foundation and UC San Diego)
This grant is funded by the NIAAA within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was created to prepare pre- and postdoctoral trainees for careers in academic settings with encouraged specialization in alcohol research. - Genetics Training Program (UC San Diego)
This program is designed for predoctoral (PhD) students in any life or health sciences graduate program at UC San Diego who have already completed their first year of study.
Dr. Palmer is part of the Program Faculty for the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry Research Residency Track (RRT). This program, funded by an NIMH R25 Award through June 2028, trains future leaders in neuropsychiatric research and Academic Psychiatry.