Faculty

Mary M Torregrossa, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

450 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15219
Phone 412-624-5723
Email
Website
Torregrossa Lab
CARRS Center
Assistant
Michele Nace
nacem@upmc.edu

Education & Training

PhD
Neuroscience, University of Michigan
Neuroscience, Yale University
Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society for Neuroscience
Associate Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Member, Research Society on Alcoholism
Member, College On Problems of Drug Dependence

Selected Honors & Awards

Hamilton Family Award for Basic Neuroscience Research in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Research Interests

Addiction; Learning and memory processes; Adolescent drug exposure long term effects
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Rich MT, Huang YH, Torregrossa MM. Caclineurin promotes neuroplastic changes in the amygdala associated with weakened cocaine-cue memories. J Neurosci. 2020, 40:1344-1354.
  2. Rich MT, Huang YH, Torregrossa MM. Plasticity at thalamo-amygdala synapses regulates cocaine-cue memory formation and extinction. Cell Rep. 2019, 26:1010-1020.
  3. Bertholomey ML, Stone K, Lam TT, Bang S, Wu W, Nairn AC, Taylor JR, Torregrossa MM. Phosphoproteomic analysis of the amygdala response to adolescent glucocorticoid exposure reveals G-protein coupled receptor kinase 2 as a target for reducing motivation for alcohol. Proteomes. 2018, 6:41.
  4. Kirschmann EK, Pollock M, Nagarajan V, Torregrossa MM. Effects of adolescent cannabinoid self-administration in rats on addiction-related behaviors and working memory. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2017, 42: 989-1000.
  5. Rich MT, Abbott TB, Chung L, Gulcicek EE, Stone KL, Colangelo CM, Nairn AC, Taylor JR, Torregrossa MM. Phosphoproteomic analysis reveals a novel mechanism of CaMKIIa regulation inversely induced by cocaine memory extinction versus reconsolidation. J Neurosci. 2016, 36:7613-7627.

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Graduate student training; Medical student training/supervision

University of Pittsburgh Awards Tenure to Mary Torregrossa, PhD

Dr. Mary Torregrossa

We are delighted to announce that Mary Torregrossa, PhD, has received conferral of tenure at the rank of associate professor by the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Torregrossa is a leading scholar in the field of addiction neuroscience. Her research focuses on understanding how motivational, cognitive, and learning and memory systems are altered in substance use disorders. Her goal is to identify interventions that...

Psychiatry Residents Present Robust Research at the 7th Annual Psychiatry Research Pathway Symposium

PRP Residents and Mentors

The Psychiatry Research Pathway (PRP) Symposium provides UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital residents engaged in research the opportunity to present their work to fellow residents, faculty mentors, T32 postdoctoral research program directors, and interested members of our academic community. This year, the PRP Symposium began with a panel discussion focused on interventional psychiatry, moderated by Katherine Lyman...

Pitt Psychiatry's Newest T32 Postdoctoral Training Program: Supportive, Multidisciplinary Addiction Research Training (SMART)

Drs. Colleen McClung and Mary Torregrossa

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded Pitt Psychiatry a T32 postdoctoral training grant focused on substance use disorder research. Led by Colleen McClung, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), and Mary Torregrossa, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), the goal of the Supportive, Multidisciplinary Addiction Research Training (SMART) T32 program is to provide...

The Department of Psychiatry’s Biggest-Ever Research Day

2023 Pitt Psychiatry Research Day Session

The 21st annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 8, 2023 was the biggest Research Day ever, attended by more than 500 faculty members, trainees, and staff, and featuring 160 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.   Lunchtime roundtables followed the morning poster session. More than 250 participants joined one of 30 roundtable discussion groups...

Pitt Psychiatry News from the 2022 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting

2022 ACNP Annual Meeting Collage

Many Pitt Psychiatry faculty and trainees traveled to Phoenix—or participated remotely—for the 2022 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting in early December! Below is Pitt Psychiatry news from the meeting: President’s Plenary Marta Peciña, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), was selected as a President’s Plenary presenter, and discussed the latest work on endogenous opioid...