What do we do?
We are a behavioural neuroscience laboratory based in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph. Research conducted in the Addiction, Interoception, and Motivation Laboratory (AIM Lab) investigates the behaviour-altering effects of drugs of abuse. We use a variety of experimental procedures including self-administration and Pavlovian conditioning to study and manipulate the stimulus and reinforcing properties of drugs.
Dr. Murray began investigating the interoceptive stimulus properties of drugs of abuse as a graduate student in Prof Rick Bevins' Behavioral Neuropharmacology laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States. Following earning her Ph.D. in 2009, she joined Prof Barry Everitt as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge in England. There, she used novel models of drug dependence to assess particular theories of addiction. She was also an official fellow of Murray Edwards College and directed studies for their psychology students. In 2016, Dr. Murray returned to North America as a research assistant professor at UNL with Prof Bevins' research group before beginning her post as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph in 2018.
Get involved
Undergraduate students are welcome to inquire directly to Dr. Murray about joining our laboratory through volunteer or course credit routes. We routinely have students enrolled in PSYC, BIOM, and NEUR independent study courses.
Potential graduate students at MSc and PhD levels are welcome to inquire informally to Dr. Murray and apply directly through the Neuroscience & Applied Cognitive Science graduate program.
From left: L. Reyes, M. Williams, D. Peart, A. Noon, A. Stone, J. Murray, A. Sikic, R. El Azali, A. Sheppard.