University Scholar Subhash Pandey

The University Scholars Program, now in its 35th year, honors faculty members for superior research and teaching, along with great promise for future achievements. The award provides $15,000 a year for three years.

Subhash Pandey
Professor of psychiatry, anatomy and cell biology
Director of the UIC Alcohol Research Center
Senior research career scientist, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center

Years at UIC: 33

What are your research interests?
My area of research is the neurobiology of alcohol use and anxiety disorders. I am engaged in investigating the epigenetic and molecular basis of AUD and anxiety disorder. My lab investigates the mechanism by which alcohol drinking alters epigenetic processes to mediate changes in gene expression in the brain and, thereby, behavioral phenotypes. I believe alcohol is an epigenetic drug, as it can inhibit histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases in the brain. My research has been consistently funded by the NIH since 1996 and by the Department of Veterans Affairs since 1999. I established the NIH-funded Alcohol Research Center entitled, “Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics” (CARE) at UIC in 2015. It is important to point out that this is the only alcohol research center in the United States that is investigating the epigenetic mechanisms of AUD. The center at UIC uses both preclinical and translational research around a mission to define the biological mechanism of AUD and find a cure for the disease.