Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
College of Medicine
Habibeh Khoshbouei studies dopamine transmission in Parkinson’s disease and compulsive behaviors such as drug addiction.
Khoshbouei’s research has revealed a mechanistic overlap between dopamine pathways that malfunction in Parkinson’s and pathways “hijacked” when addictive drugs affect the protein dopamine transporter. A chemical messenger in the brain, dopamine plays a key role in pleasure, reward and movement regulation.
“If one circuit can drive both movement disorders and compulsive behaviors, understanding its molecular switches might reveal therapies for both,” she said.
A graduate of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she earned a doctorate in pharmacology, Khoshbouei went on to complete postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University. She then held teaching positions at Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical College in Nashville before joining the UF faculty in 2011.
Among her top research goals is to map the full brain-to-immune circuit and develop minimally invasive biomarkers to predict Parkinson’s progression and treatment response.
“I hope these insights lead to dual-action therapeutics that restore dopamine signaling while normalizing immune function in neurodegenerative and addictive disorders,” she said.
Her most exciting discovery so far has been showing that a loss of dopamine in the brain can rewire immune responses occurring in peripheral blood and tissues in Parkinson’s patients and rodent models of disease. “This is the first evidence that neurodegeneration of dopamine neurons affects peripheral organs and can be monitored through blood-based immune signatures,” she said.
Just as motivating to her as pivotal moments in the lab is the opportunity to influence the next generation of scientists: 150 undergraduates have worked in her lab, and of the 18 doctoral students she has mentored, three have obtained tenure-track faculty positions, one is a research assistant professor, three lead research teams and the others are pursuing postdoctoral training.
This year, Khoshbouei won UF’s Faculty Doctoral Mentoring Award.
“Seeing a mentee defend a thesis or land a fellowship is exhilarating,” Khoshbouei said. “It’s tangible proof that our collective efforts will continue to push the field forward and change lives.”