About Me
I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Mexico Health Science Campus and I am interested in how alcohol affects cognition. Broadly, I hope to utilize cutting-edge in vivo electrophysiology recording techniques and analysis methods to further our understanding of how alcohol affects decision making, memory, and inhibition.
An updated CV can be found here here and an NIH Biosketch can be found here.
Papers
Bryant, K. G., Swygart, D., Yin, Y., Bauer, M. R., Morningstar, M. D., Timme, N. M., Barnett, W. H., McGonigle, C. E., Engleman, E. A., Sheets, P. L., & Lapish, C. C. (2025). Acute alcohol in prefrontal cortex is characterized by enhanced inhibition that transitions to excitation. iScience, 28(7), 112920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112920
Morningstar, M. D., Acosta, G., Valenzuela, C. F., Clark, B. J., & Linsenbardt, D. N. (2025). Unsupervised Phenotyping Reveals Disrupted Neural Firing Characteristics in the Anterior Thalamus and Surrounding Brain Regions Following Third-Trimester Equivalent Alcohol Exposure in Mice. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025.06.02.657410. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.02.657410
Ardinger, C. E., Morningstar, M. D., Lapish, C. C., & Linsenbardt, D. N. (2025). Repeated alcohol drinking in mice is associated with bidirectional alterations in corticostriatal coherence. Neuropharmacology, 277, 110522. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2025.110522
Morningstar, M. D. +, Lopez, K. M., Mayfield, S. S., Almeida-Mancero, R. N., Marquez, J., Flores, A. M., Hafer, B. R., Estrada, E., Holtzman, G. A., Goranson, E. V., Reid, N. M., Aldrich, A. R., Ghatalia, D. V., Patel, J. R., Padilla, C. M., Chavez, G. J., Kelly-Roman, J., Bhakta, P. A., Valenzuela, C. F., & Linsenbardt, D. N. (2024). Connectivity of the neuronal network for contextual fear memory is disrupted in a mouse model of third-trimester binge-like ethanol exposure. Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 10.1111/acer.15503.
White, S. M., Morningstar, M. D. , De Falco, E., Linsenbardt, D. N., Ma, B., Parks, M. A., Czachowski, C. L., & Lapish, C. C. (2024). Impulsive Choices Emerge When the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Fails to Encode Deliberative Strategies. eNeuro, 11(11), ENEURO.0379-24.2024.
Morningstar, M. D. , Timme, N. M., Ma, B., Cornwell, E., Galbari, T., & Lapish, C. C. (2024). Proactive Versus Reactive Control Strategies Differentially Mediate Alcohol Drinking in Male Wistars and P Rats. eNeuro, 11(3), ENEURO.0385-23.2024. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0385-23.2024
Starski, P., Morningstar, M. D. , Katner, S. N., Frasier, R. M., De Oliveira Sergio, T., Wean, S., Lapish, C. C., & Hopf, F. W. (2024). Neural Activity in the Anterior Insula at Drinking Onset and Licking Relates to Compulsion-Like Alcohol Consumption. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 44(9), e1490232023.
Morningstar, M. D., Barnett, W. H., Goodlett, C. R., Kuznetsov, A., & Lapish, C. C. (2021). Understanding ethanol’s acute effects on medial prefrontal cortex neural activity using state-space approaches. Neuropharmacology, 198, 108780.
De Falco, E, White, SM, Morningstar, M.D., et al. (2021), Impaired cognitive flexibility and heightened urgency are associated with increased alcohol consumption in rodent models of excessive drinking. Addiction Biology.
Morningstar, M.D., Linsenbardt, D.N. and Lapish, C.C. (2020), Ethanol Alters Variability, But Not Rate, of Firing in Medial Prefrontal Cortex Neurons of Awake‐Behaving Rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res.
Keesom SM, Morningstar M.D., Sandlain R, Wise BM, Hurley LM. (2018). Social isolation reduces serotonergic fiber density in the inferior colliculus of female, but not male, mice. Brain Research.
Contact me
Email: MMorningstar AT salud DOT unm DOT edu