Biography

About Me

Amanda Fakira, PhD, joined CMSRU as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in January 2020.

Dr. Fakira earned her PhD in Neuroscience from UMDNJ/Rutgers University in Newark, NJ in 2011. As a post-doctoral scientist at Columbia University Medical Center, working in the laboratory of Jose Moron-Concepcion, she examined morphine-induced synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. From these studies, she has published several articles demonstrating the significant impact of pairing novel contextual cues with morphine administration on synaptic function and structural plasticity which influence morphine craving. Subsequently, she joined Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as an Instructor, working under the supervision of Lakshmi Devi, where she continued her interests in identifying potential targets to alleviate opioid dependence. During this time, she identified the role of a neuropeptide receptor GPR83 as a potential target acting in both the pain and reward pathways.

Before joining CMSRU, Dr. Fakira took on the role of managing an inaugural electrophysiology CORE facility at Mount Sinai under the direction of Robert Blitzer. During her career thus far, Dr. Fakira has published seventeen manuscripts, with six as primary author, and trained several undergraduate and post-bac students who have progressed to medical and graduate programs.

At CMSRU, Dr. Fakira will continue studying the mechanisms by which GPR83 acts to regulate pain and reward using behavioral pharmacology, neuroanatomy and electrophysiology.