Welcome!
Dr. Jeffrey Grimm, director of Western Washington University’s behavioral neuroscience program (BNS), operates and supervises the university’s Neurobiology of Relapse lab. Daily laboratory work is primarily conducted by student lab technicians from the psychology and BNS departments, while Dr. Grimm oversees study design and writing.
Studies conducted in the lab range from testing preclinical drug therapies to experimenting with environmental stimuli, all done in the pursuit of understanding drug uptake behavior and relapse prognosis. All studies utilize Charles River Long-Evans rats bred and raised in WWU’s own vivarium.
The Lab
Dr. Grimm’s lab is in Bellingham, Washington: a beautiful part of the pacific northwest, surrounded by mountains and ocean. As a part of Western Washington University’s campus, it has full access to campus resources and collaboration opportunities with other labs in the department.
Within the lab’s resources are a fully equipped rat and mouse vivarium, cytology scopes, chemical utilities and fume hoods, sterile surgical and injection equipment, and much more. Dr. Grimm’s lab takes full advantage of this suite of utilities in its varied and diverse investigations into the brain and relapse behavior.
Incubation of Craving
The core tenet of Dr. Grimm’s lab is studying what has been identified as the “incubation of craving”, a relapse behavior described to be an increase of drug craving after protracted withdrawal or removal from said drug stimulus. The lab’s studies seek to explore this phenomenon and how it can be influenced by exterior factors or interventions.
Dr. Grimm’s lab receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Western Washington University.