Professional portrait of Kelsey Vollmer, a smiling woman with short brown hair and glasses in an outdoor setting.

Kelsey Vollmer

Adjunct Faculty in Psychology

Education

Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina

B.S. in Biology, College of Charleston

Research Interests

I am a neuroscientist interested in impulse control, or how the brain can suppress motivated behavior when it is inappropriate. My prior research explored how drugs of abuse, particularly opioids, disinhibited motivated behavior despite the presence of dangerous or stressful stimuli.

Courses Taught

  • PSYC 214: Behavioral Neuroscience

Selected Publications

Paniccia JE*, Vollmer KM*, Green LM*,  Grant RI, Winston KT, Buchmaier S, Westphal AM, Clarke RE, Doncheck EM, Bordieanu B, Manusky LM, Martino MR, Ward AL, Rinker, JA, McGinty JF, Scofield MD,  Otis JM. Restoration of a paraventricular thalamo-accumbal behavioral suppression circuit prevents reinstatement of heroin seeking (2024). Neuron, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.024. [LINK]

Vollmer KM*, Green LM*, Grant RI, Winston KT, Doncheck EM, Bowen CW, Paniccia JE, Clarke RE, Tiller A, Siegler PN, Bordieanu B, Siemsen BM, Denton AR, Westphal AM, Jhou TC, Rinker JA, McGinty JF, Scofield MD,  Otis JM. An opioid-gated thalamoaccumbal circuit for the suppression of reward seeking in mice (2022). Nature Communications, 13: 6865. [LINK]

Vollmer KM*, Doncheck EM*, Grant RI, Winston KT, Romanova EV, Bowen CW, Siegler PN, Green LM, Bobadilla AC, Trujillo-Pisanty I, Kalivas PW, Otis JM. A novel assay allowing drug self-administration, extinction, and reinstatement in head-restrained mice (2021). Frontiers Behavioral Neuroscience, 15: 744715. [LINK]