Carmen S. Maldonado-Vlaar University of Puerto Rico Department of Biology P.O. Box 23360 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931 Phone: 787-764-0000-ext.2712 Fax: 787-764-3875 E-mail: cmalvlar@caribe.net EDUCATION 1995-1996- Post-doctoral-Department of Neuropharmacology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California (Mentor: Dr. George F. Koob) 1990-1994 - Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA Behavioral Neuroscience (Mentor: Dr. Ann E. Kelley) 1992- M.A. Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA Behavioral Neuroscience (Mentor: Dr. James R. Stellar) 1984-1989 B.S. Magna Cum Laude Department of Biology/Psychology, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 1986-1987 Exchange Student- Dept. Biology- University Massachusetts, Amherst, MA POSITIONS AND AWARDS 1995-present- Journal Reviewer for: Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, Synapse, Methods in Neurosciences, Behavioral Neuroscience 1996- Lecturer, Mesa College, Dept. Psychology, San Diego, CA. 1997 – 1998- Lecturer, University of Puerto Rico, Dept. Psychology, Rio Piedras, PR. 1998 - 1999 Assistant Investigator, UPR, Dept. Biology, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. 1999- Special Achievement Award- American Psychological Association-Minority Fellowship -Program in Neuroscience. 2001-2004 - Member, Training Advisory Committee for APA-Diversity in Neuroscience 2000- 2nd Prize –Young Scientist Award; Glaxo Wellcome Research Awards. 1999 - 2001 Assistant Professor, UPR, Dept. Biology/ Psychology, Rio Piedras, PR. 2001 - 2004 Assistant Professor, UPR, Dept. of Biology, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. 2004- 2007 Associate Professor, UPR, Dept. of Biology, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. 2007- present Professor, UPR, Dept. of Biology, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. 2007- 2009 Assisting Editor, Behavioral Neuroscience Journal Selected publications Maldonado-Irizarry, C. S., Swanson, C. J., & Kelley, A. E. (1995). Glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens shell control feeding behavior via the lateral hypothalamus. Journal of Neuroscience, 15, 6779-6788. Koob, G. F., Caine, S. B., Carrera, R., Gold, L., Heyser, C., Maldonado-Irizarry, C. S., Markou, A., Parsons, L., Roberts, A., Stinus, L., Walker, J., Weissenborn, R. & Weiss, F. (1998). Substance dependence as a compulsive behavior. Psychopharmacology, 12, 39-48. Peña de Ortíz, S., Maldonado-Vlaar, C.S., Carrasquillo, Y., Alvarez, S., & Cintrón I. (2000). Expression of the Orphan Nuclear Receptor hzf-3 during acquisition of a food search reference and working memory task. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 74, 161-178. Weiss, F., Maldonado-Vlaar, C. S., Parsons, L. H., Kerr, T. R., Smith, D., & Ben-Shahar, O. (2000). Control of cocaine-seeking behavior by drug-predictive stimuli in rats: effects on recovery of extinguished operant responding and extracellular dopamine levels in amygdala and nucleus accumbens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97, 4321-4326 Melnick, S. M., Maldonado-Vlaar, C. S., Trzcinska M. & Stellar, J. R. (2001). Effects of repeated GBR-12909 administration on brain stimulation reward. European Journal of Pharmacology, 419, 199-205. Alvarez-Jaimes, L, Betancourt, E., Rodriguez, D., Peña de Ortiz, S. & Maldonado-Vlaar, C. S. (2004). Spatial learning in rats is impaired by microinfusions of PKC-g antisense oligodeoxynucleotide within the nucleus accumbens. Neurobiology of Learning and memory.81(2): 120-136. Mumna Al Banchaabouchi, Peña de Ortiz, S., Menéndez, R., Ren, K. & Maldonado Vlaar, C. S. (2004). Chronic Lithium Decreases Basal HZF-3 Expression in the Rat Brain and Impairs Spatial Discrimination. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 79:607-621. Alvarez-Jaimes, L., Centeno-Gonzalez, M., Feliciano-Rivera MZ. & Maldonado-Vlaar, CS (2005) Dissociation of the effect of spatila behaviors on th ephosphorylation of cAMP-response element brinding protein (CREB) within the nucleus accumbens Neuroscience,130:833-842 . Jorge J.C. ,Velázquez K.T., Ramos D.L., Lorenzini I.,Marrero J., and Maldonado-Vlaar C.S. (2005) A Testosterone Metabolite Is Rewarding To Ovariectomized Female Rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119(5):1222-6.. Alvarez-Jaimes L., Feliciano-Rivera M., Centeno-González M. and Maldonado-Vlaar C.S. (2005) Contributions of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) and Protein Kinase C (PKC) cascades in spatial learning and memory mediated by the nucleus accumbens. JPET314(3):1144-57. Rodríguez, E., Abella CN., Estrada Y., Bernardo, A., Jiménez, N., Alvarez, JE., Burgos, M., Maldonado-Vlaar, CS. (2006) Selective blockade of ionotropic glutamate receptor within nucleus accumbens disrupts cocaine-induced conditioning. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. 2006 85(1):178-84. Tirado-Santiago G, Lazaro-Muñoz G., Rodriguez-Gonzalez V and Maldonado-Vlaar C.S. (2006) Microinfusions of neurotensin antagonist SR 48692 within the nucleus accumbens core impairs spatial learning in rats Behav Neurosci. 2006 Oct;120(5):1093-102. Colon-Cesario WI, Martinez-Montemayor MM, Morales S, Felix J, Cruz J, Adorno M, Pereira L, Colon N, Maldonado-Vlaar CS, Pena de Ortiz S. Knockdown of Nurr1 in the rat hippocampus: implications to spatial discrimination learning and memory. Learn Mem. 2006 Nov-Dec;13(6):734-44. Ramos-Ortolaza DL Negron A., Cruz D., Falcon E., Iturbe M and Maldonado-Vlaar, C.S. (2008) Expression of neurotensin and dynorphin within nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex during environmentally-elicited cocaine seeking behavior. Psychopharmacology, accepted. Maldonado-Vlaar, CS, Julia LL, Ramos-Ortolaza D.L. and Rodriguez-Alzugaray L. (2008) Blockade of Protein Kinase C actions within the nucleus accumbens affects cocaine induced-discrimination behavior in rats. Neuropharmacology, submitted.