Caleb Browne

Research Synopsis

Dr. Caleb Browne is a scientist in the Brain Health Imaging Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He obtained his Master’s and PhD from the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychology, conducting his research at CAMH. After completing his graduate studies, Dr. Browne pursued further training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York where he completed an NSERC-sponsored Postdoctoral Fellowship and subsequently held a junior faculty position as an instructor. He then returned to returned to CAMH and the University of Toronto as faculty.

Dr. Browne's research focuses on delineating brain mechanisms coordinating motivation and how dysfunctions in these processes contribute to addiction. A primary goal of his work is to identify and reverse persistent, drug-induced neurobiological changes that contribute to relapse – a major obstacle in effective addiction treatment. Specific areas of research include epigenetic remodeling in substance use disorder, neural circuit mechanisms of motivation and addiction, and serotonergic regulation of motivated behavior.

The Browne lab uses advanced operant behavioral analysis in rodents to model motivation and addiction, and integrates this with cutting-edge techniques to provide deep mechanistic insights into brain function in health and disease. These include approaches for in vivo imaging (fiber photometry, two-photon calcium imaging, positron emission tomography), circuit manipulation (optogenetics, DREADDs), molecular profiling (multi-omics, bioinformatics), and molecular regulation (viral-mediated knockdown/overexpression, CRISPR-based tools). Spanning multiple domains of neuroscience, the overarching goal of the Browne lab is to translate comprehensive preclinical insights into actionable treatment targets for addiction. At CAMH, this is facilitated by unparalleled collaborative opportunities across neuroscientific disciplines and synergies with clinically oriented research initiatives.