Crystal Erickson, B.Sc.

Master’s Student -

I am a Master’s student in Neurology & Neurosurgery at McGillUniversity, supervised by Dr. Alain Dagher. My primary researchinterest is in the application of neuroimaging techniques to the studyof dopamine’s role in pathological gambling. I will use fMRI to studypathological gambling induced by dopamine replacement therapy inParkinson’s disease patients. I am also using fMRI in combination withPET and genetic testing to investigate the effect of dopamine depletionin normal controls, while they gamble. Ultimately, I want to contributeto understanding both the fundamental neural mechanisms underlyingaddiction and what mediates susceptibility to addiction.