Dr. Adam G. Gordon is an Assistant Professor in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience. His lab studies the neural circuits that drive motivated behavior, with a focus on substance use disorder (SUD) and feeding. His work combines fiber photometry, two-photon calcium imaging, and optogenetics with innovative head-fixed behavioral approaches. He joined Rutgers in September 2026 from a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Garret Stuber at the University of Washington.
Dr. Gordon's laboratory investigates the neural mechanisms of positive and negative reinforcement and how these processes change during the development of SUD and disordered feeding. His research centers on the lateral hypothalamus (LHA), a region that regulates both feeding and reward, and its role in coordinating brain-wide dopamine release to motivate behavior. Current projects examine how LHA circuits shape dopamine signaling during consumption and during the development of opioid dependence. A long-term goal is to identify interventions that selectively modulate positive and negative reinforcement to treat SUD and overeating. To study these questions, the lab combines multi-site fiber photometry, including emerging fluorescence lifetime photometry approaches, with longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging, optogenetics, chemogenetics, and head-fixed behavioral platforms, using computational analyses to understand how neural activity reflects behavioral and internal state variables. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA K99/R00) supports research in the Gordon Lab.
Dr. Gordon is actively recruiting at all levels.