Rate My Professor Jerry Stitzel

Jerry A. Stitzel is Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds affiliate appointments as Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Behavioral Genetics and faculty member in the Center for Neuroscience. Stitzel received his B.A. with double majors in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1984, and his Ph.D. in Biology from The Johns Hopkins University in 1992. His postdoctoral training as a Pharmacogenetics Fellow occurred at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics from 1992 to 1994. Subsequently, he served as Research Associate at the same institute until 1999, followed by Assistant Research Scientist in the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School from 1999 to 2003. Returning to CU Boulder in 2004, he advanced from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in Integrative Physiology in 2009, and to Professor in 2020.

Stitzel's research utilizes genetic approaches to uncover the biological underpinnings of behavioral and physiological responses to drugs of abuse, emphasizing nicotine and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Through his Molecular Neurogenetics Laboratory, he examines genetic variants affecting nicotine consumption and dependence using mouse models. He has led or co-led multiple National Institute on Drug Abuse grants, including Genetic modifiers of Chrna5 deletion in mice: role in nicotine behaviors modulated by the medial habenula-IPN pathway (U01DA043802, 2018-2023) and Nicotine consumption QTL: Fine mapping, selective breeding and sequencing (UH2/UH3 DA040142, 2015-2020). Notable publications encompass Melatonin administration alters nicotine preference consumption via signaling through high-affinity melatonin receptors (Psychopharmacology, 2015), The β3 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: modulation of gene expression and nicotine consumption (Neuropharmacology, 2015), A Polymorphism in the Mouse Neuronal α4 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit Results in an Alteration in Receptor Function (Molecular Pharmacology, 2002), and The β3 nicotinic receptor subunit: A component of α-Conotoxin MII binding nAChRs which modulate dopamine and related behaviors (Journal of Neuroscience, 2003). Awards include the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award (2001) and Postdoctoral Fellowship from the University of Colorado Alcohol Research Center (1992-1994). Since 2019, he has served as Associate Editor for Behavior Genetics.