Shawn K. Acheson

Shawn K. Acheson

Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

External Address: 
240 Katrina Way, Sylva, NC 28779
Internal Office Address: 
240 Katrina Way, Waynesville, NC 28786
Phone: 
919.768.2243
Email: 
shawn.acheson@duke.edu

Overview

In collaboration with Dr. Scott Swartzwelder, research in our lab has focused on the neurodevelopmental effects of alcohol and other drugs of abuse. In particular, we have been interested in how and why adolescents are more sensitive to some effects of ethanol and THC (e.g., learning and memory) and less sensitive to other effects (e.g., sedation). Beginning in Fall 2011, my lab will begin a new line of research focused on potential pharmacotherapies for TBI and the basic underlying mechanisms of recovery of function following acquired brain injury. This work is funded by a Career Development Award from the Veterans Administration Biomedical Laboratory Research & Development service.

Education & Training

  • Ph.D., Southern Illinois University 1997

Selected Grants

1/8 NADIA UO1 Adolescent Alcohol Effects on Learning and Hippocampal Function awarded by National Institutes of Health (Collaborator). 2010 to 2020

IPA - Shawn Acheson awarded by (Assistant Research Professor). 2018

Marx, C. E., et al. “Neurosteroids and traumatic brain injury translating biomarkers to therapeutics; overview and pilot investigations in Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans.” Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury, 2016, pp. 145–61.

Schepis, Ty S., et al. “Alcohol use and consequences in matriculating US college students by prescription stimulant/opioid nonmedical misuse status.” Addict Behav, vol. 98, Nov. 2019, p. 106026. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.06.015. Full Text

Straka, B. C., et al. ““Mixed” Drinking Motivations: A Comparison of Majority, Multiracial, and Minority College Students.” Social Psychological and Personality Science, Jan. 2019. Scopus, doi:10.1177/1948550619883294. Full Text

Swartzwelder, H. S., et al. “Adolescent Ethanol Exposure Enhances NMDA Receptor-Mediated Currents in Hippocampal Neurons: Reversal by Gabapentin.” Sci Rep, vol. 7, no. 1, Oct. 2017, p. 13133. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-12956-6. Full Text

Miller, Kelsey M., et al. “Behavioral Inefficiency on a Risky Decision-Making Task in Adulthood after Adolescent Intermittent Ethanol Exposure in Rats.” Sci Rep, vol. 7, no. 1, July 2017, p. 4680. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04704-7. Full Text

Lei, Beilei, et al. “Erratum: Neuroprotective pentapeptide CN-105 improves functional and histological outcomes in a murine model of intracerebral hemorrhage.” Sci Rep, vol. 7, Jan. 2017, p. 39580. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/srep39580. Full Text Open Access Copy

Sharma, Richa, et al. “A blood-based biomarker panel to risk-stratify mild traumatic brain injury.” Plos One, vol. 12, no. 3, 2017, p. e0173798. Pubmed, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173798. Full Text

Lei, Beilei, et al. “Neuroprotective pentapeptide CN-105 improves functional and histological outcomes in a murine model of intracerebral hemorrhage.” Sci Rep, vol. 6, Oct. 2016, p. 34834. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/srep34834. Full Text Open Access Copy

Klein, Rebecca C., et al. “Opposing effects of traumatic brain injury on excitatory synaptic function in the lateral amygdala in the absence and presence of preinjury stress.” Journal of Neuroscience Research, vol. 94, no. 6, June 2016, pp. 579–89. Epmc, doi:10.1002/jnr.23702. Full Text

Risher, Mary-Louise, et al. “Adolescent intermittent alcohol exposure: persistence of structural and functional hippocampal abnormalities into adulthood.” Alcohol Clin Exp Res, vol. 39, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 989–97. Pubmed, doi:10.1111/acer.12725. Full Text

Swartzwelder, H. Scott, et al. “Adolescent Intermittent Alcohol Exposure: Deficits in Object Recognition Memory and Forebrain Cholinergic Markers.” Plos One, vol. 10, no. 11, Jan. 2015, p. e0140042. Epmc, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140042. Full Text

Pages

Fleming, R. L., et al. “IN THE RAT, CHRONIC INTERMITTENT ETHANOL EXPOSURE DURING ADOLESCENCE, BUT NOT LATER, ALTERS THE ETHANOL SENSITIVITY OF TONIC INHIBITION IN ADULTHOOD.” Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 36, WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2012, pp. 105A-105A.