Ph.D., Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 1982
B.A., Psychology University of California, San Diego, CA 1973 

NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 1985-86
NIMH Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 1983-85

• Professor of Pharmacology, Western University of Health Sciences, COMP, 2012-present
• Professor of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 2002-2012
• Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 2010-2012
• Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 2000-2012
• Promotion to Tenured Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, 1996
• Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Department of Pharmacology, Louisiana State University, New Orleans 1993-1999
• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, UCLA, 1988-1992

The research in my laboratory is focused on three aspects of neuropsychopharmacology: using animals models to understand the causes of and to develop new potential treatments for various forms of mental illness; utilizing both in vivo and in vitro approaches to study the neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse; and defining the role of hippocampal neurogenesis in health and disease states. Primary goals include: characterizing the role of developmental insults (prenatal, neonatal and adolescent) in producing neuropsychiatric disorders; defining the involvement of cytokines and stress in neurogenesis and depression; understanding the role of neurogenesis in post-chemotherapy-induced cognitive function, and determining the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the effects of nicotine, cocaine and phencyclidine (PCP), and the pathophysiological and neurochemical consequences of the repeated administration of these drugs. Experimental approaches involve studying the effects of the systemic and central administration of selective agonists, antagonists and antisense oligonucleotides, using transgenic animal models, utilizing viral-mediated gene delivery, and characterizing functional responses as well as changes in receptor subunit gene expression, neurotransmitter levels and neurotransmitter receptors after acute and chronic drug administration.

Selected Recent Grants

• National Institute on Drug Abuse, Role: Principal Investigator, Nicotine Addiction: Influence of Prenatal and Adolescent Exposure, 4/01/08 – 1/31/14
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Town), Role: Co-Investigator, Peripheral TGF-beta Pathway Inhibitor Therapy in Alzheimer’s Rats
• 9/30/11 – 9/30/12
• National Institute on Aging (Cohen), Role: Co-Investigator, The Role of CD8+ T cells in a Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease, 9/30/09 – 8/31/12
• National Institute on Drug Abuse, Role: Principal Investigator, Viral-Mediated GDNF Expression and Cocaine Addiction, 4/01/08 – 3/31/11
• National Institute of Mental Health, Role: Principal Investigator, Viral-Mediated Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) Expression and Depression, 7/01/07 – 5/31/10
• National Institute of Mental Health (Chesnokova), Role: Co-Investigator, Role of p21 in Antidepressant-Induced Neurogenesis, 12/01/07 – 11/30/10
• US Army, Role: Principal Investigator, Basic Mechanisms Underlying Post-Chemotherapy Cognitive Impairment, 9/01/08 – 4/30/10
• National Institute of Mental Health, Role: Principal Investigator, Differential Effects of Antidepressants in Adult and Developing Animals, 08/01/06-07/31/09

• Best Class Advisor, Psychiatry Residency Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2012)
• David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Award for Excellence in Education (2008)
• Medical Student Teaching Award, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences (2006, 2011)
• Copping Excellence in Basic Science Teaching Award (1999)
• Copping Excellence in Basic Science Teaching Award Nominee (1997, 1998)
• Outstanding Teacher Award, UCLA School of Medicine (1991, 1992)
• J.Thomas Ungerleider Substance Abuse Prevention/Education Lectureship
• Mental Health Training Fellowship - NIMH
• National Research Service Award - NIGMS
• Neuroendocrinology Postdoctoral Training Fellowship - NIH
• Physiological Psychology Postdoctoral Training Fellowship – NIMH

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
College on Problems of Drug Dependence
Serotonin Club
Sigma Xi
Society for Neuroscience
UCLA Brain Research Institute
UCLA Center for Addictive Behaviors
Western Pharmacology Society

• Recent Publications
• Muhammad, G., Xiong, W., Puntel, M., Farrokhi, C., Kroeger, K.M., Salem, A., Lacayo, L., Pechnick, R.N., Kelson, K.R., Palmer, D., Ng, P., Liu, C., Lowenstein, P.R., and Castro, M.G. Maria G. Safety Profile of Gutless Adenovirus Vectors Delivered into the Normal Brain Parenchyma: Implications for a Glioma Phase I Clinical Trial. Human Gene Therapy Methods, 23:271-284, 2012.
• Pechnick, R.N., Zonis, S, Wawrowsky, K, Cosgayon, R., Farrokhi, C., Lcayo, L. and Chesnokova, V. Antidepressants Stimulate Hippocampal Neurogenesis by Inhibiting p21 Expression in the Subgranular Zone. PLoS ONE , Epub 6:e27290, 2011.
• Pechnick, R.N., Manalo, C.M., Lacayo, L.M., Bholat, Y. and Spivak, I. Acamprosate Attenuates Cue-Induced Reinstatement of Nicotine Seeking Behavior in Rats. Behavioural Pharmacology 22:222-227, 2011.
• Pechnick, R.N., L.M. Lacayo, L.M., and Manalo, C.M. Characterization of the Effects of Eszopiclone on the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis. European Journal of Pharmacology 661:22-26, 2011.
• Larocque, D., Sanderson, N.S.R., Bergeron, J., Curtin, J., Girton, J., Wibowo, M., Bondale, N., Kroeger, K.M., Yang, J., Lacayo, L.M., Reyes, K.C., Farrokhi, C., Pechnick, R.N., Castro, M. and Lowenstein, P.R. Exogenous Flt3L Overrides Brain Immune Privilege and Facilitates Recognition of a Neo-Antigen: Implications for Brain Immunotherapies. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science, USA 107:14443-14448, 2010.
• Pechnick, R.N., Zonis, S, Wawrowsky, K, Bresee, C. and Chesnokova, V.: p21Cip1 Restricts Neuronal Proliferation in the Subgranular Zone of the Dentate Gyrus in the Hippocampus of the Rat. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science, USA, 105: 1358-1363, 2008.

Click link for complete list of publications:  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Robert%20N.%20Pechnick

Recent Invited Talks

• Neurogenesis, Depression and Chemobrain, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012.
• Neurogenesis, Depression and Chemobrain, Western University of Health Sciences, 2012.
• Neurogenesis, Depression and Chemobrain, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 2012.
• Neurogenesis, Depression and Chemobrain, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Grand Rounds, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 2010.
• A Preclinical Model of Chemobrain, Southern California Workshop on Cognitive Function and Cancer, Los Angeles, CA, 2010
• Cue-induced Reinstatement: An animal model for the Development of New Treatments for Nicotine Dependence, 6th Annual Drug Abuse Research Day, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA, 2010.
• Animal Models, Cell Cycle Regulators, and Neurobehavioral Disorders, Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, New Orleans, LA, 2010.
• Neurogenesis, Depression and Chemobrain, Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, 2010.

Recent Abstracts

• Farrokhi, C., Lacayo, L.M., Vit, J.P., Carmona, S., Mastali, M., Asher, A., Figlin, R.A. and Pechnick, R.N. Modeling Sunitinib-Induced Chemobrain in Mice. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA., 2012.
• Vit, J.P., Lacayo, L.M., Manalo, C.M., Farrokh,i C. and Pechnick, R.N. Modafinil Decreases Methamphetamine Self-Administration in Rats. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., 2011.
• Bholat, Y., Mastali, M., Spivak, I., Vit, J.P., Pechnick, R.N., Wheeler, C.J. and Cohen, R.M. Contribution of T Cells in a Transgenic Alzheimer’s Disease Rat Model. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., 2011.
• Farrokhi, C., Pechnick, R.N., Zonis S., Lacayo, L.M. and Chesnokova, V. p21Cip1-Null Mice Have Increased Adult Neurogenesis and Altered Behavior. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., 2011.
• Pechnick, R.N., Reyes, K.C., Lacayo, L.M., Farrokhi, C., Vit, J.P., Das, M., Lei, I.F., Zonis S. and Chesnokova, V. Cognitive Impairment and Decreased Hippocampal Neurogenesis After Treatment With Methotrexate: An Animal Model of Chemobrain. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., 2011.