Faculty

Yanhua Huang, PhD

Pittsburgh Foundation Endowed Professor in Brain and Behavior Research and Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

450 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15219
Phone 412-624-7581
Email
Website
Huang Highlighted Publications

Education & Training

PhD
Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University
Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience (formerly Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology), Washington State University
Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society for Neuroscience

Selected Honors & Awards

Hamilton Family Award for Basic Neuroscience Research in Psychiatry, Hamilton Family
NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
Paul Ehrlich Young Investigator Award, Johns Hopkins University

Research Interests

Sleep-mediated regulation of reward; Neuroplasticity in drug addiction
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Wang Y, Liu Z, Cai L, Guo R, Dong Y, Huang YH (2020) A Critical Role of Basolateral Amygdala to Nucleus Accumbens Projection in Sleep Regulation of Reward Seeking. Biological Psychiatry [Epub ahead of print].
  2. Ge F, Mu P, Guo R, Cai Li, Liu Z, Dong Y, Huang YH (2019) Chronic sleep fragmentation enhances habenula cholinergic neural activity. Mol Psychiatry [Epub ahead of print].
  3. Liu Z, Wang Y, Cai Li, Li Yizhi, Chen B, Dong Y, Huang YH (2016) Prefrontal cortex to accumbens projections in sleep regulation of reward. J Neurosci 36: 7897-7910 *Featured article.
  4. Chen B, Wang Y, Liu X, Liu Z, Dong Y, Huang YH (2015) Sleep regulates incubation of cocaine craving. J Neurosci 35: 13300-13310. *Featured article.
  5. Huang YH, Lin Y, Mu P, Lee BR, Brown TE, Wayman G, Marie H, Liu W, Yan Z, Sorg BA, Schlter OM, Zukin RA, Dong Y (2009) In vivo cocaine experience generates silent synapses. Neuron 63:40-47.

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Medical and graduate student education

Biological Psychiatry: An Electroencephalogram Signature of Melanin-Concentrating Hormone Neuron Activities Predicts Cocaine Seeking

Yanhua Huang, PhD

Identifying biomarkers that can predict future drug use may open new avenues for individualized medicine in preventing and treating substance use disorders. Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neuron activity is an integral component of rapid eye movement sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep powerfully regulates the formation and modification of emotional memories. Following cocaine self-administration and...

Biological Psychiatry: Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Engages Melanin-Concentrating Hormone Neurons to Reduce Cocaine Seeking

Substance use relapse is a major barrier in treating substance use disorders. Withdrawal from substance use often causes sleep disruptions, which can aggravate withdrawal symptoms and increase the likelihood of relapse. A group of investigators, including Pitt Psychiatry scientists Rong Guo, PhD (Scientist, Allen Institute; former Pitt Psychiatry postdoctoral scholar), Yao Wang, PhD (Research Assistant Professor of...

The Department of Psychiatry’s 20th Annual Research Day

The 20th annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day on June 9, 2022, represented a joyful reunion for more than 400 faculty members, trainees, and staff, who had not attended a large in-person event together since 2019. The morning session featured 110 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. In the afternoon, attendees gathered across the street at the University...

Biological Psychiatry: Astrocyte Molecular Clock Function in the Nucleus Accumbens Is Important for Reward-Related Behavior

Dr. Colleen McClung

Individuals with substance use disorders have disrupted circadian and sleep/wake rhythms, and growing evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship between circadian rhythm disruption and substance abuse. Notably, circadian clocks are integral to the modulation of reward behaviors, and astrocytes—a highly abundant glial cell type that contains a circadian molecular clock—have emerged as key regulators of circadian...

Bridgeside Labs Addiction Research: Molecular Psychiatry, The Journal of Neuroscience, & Psychopharmacology

Bridgeside Point Investigator Publications

The Huang, McClung, and Torregrossa Labs at the University of Pittsburgh’s Bridgeside Point II facility are part of the Department of Psychiatry’s Translational Neuroscience Program, which seeks to understand the neurobiological basis for complex human cognitive and emotional functions, and the manner in which alterations in the brain give rise to the types of disturbances in these functions that characterize...