Dr. Sirohi joined the Division of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy at the Xavier University of Louisiana in Mar 2016 where he teaches Pharmacology and Toxicology to PharmD students. He is also the director of the Laboratory of Endocrine and Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Prior to joining the Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Sirohi worked as an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology & Neuroscience at Washington State University where he examined the impact of bariatric surgeries and patterned feeding of palatable foods on alcohol drinking and motivated behavior. Dr. Sirohi’s post-doctoral work in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University focused on assessing the impact of dysregulated kappa/opioid receptor system in alcohol use disorder. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Pharmacology from Saint John's University, NY. His graduate dissertation research work focused on assessing the functional consequences of opioids efficacy. Dr. Sirohi has a bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (B.Pharm.) from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, India.  

Education:

PhD (2010), Pharmaceutical Sciences: Pharmacology

College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions 

St. John’s University, NY 

MS (2008), Pharmaceutical Sciences: Pharmacology

College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions

St. John’s University, NY

BPharm (2003), Pharmaceutical Sciences

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Guru Jambheshwar University, India

Teaching Areas: 

PHSC 3910 - Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology-I 

PHSC 4910 - Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology-II 

PHSC 4920 - Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology-III

PHSC 5910 - Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology-IV

PHCL 5010 - Toxicology 

Research Interests: 

The mission of my Laboratory of Endocrine and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (LEND) is to discover and develop improved pharmacotherapeutic agents to treat addictive and related neuropsychiatric disorders. We utilize an integrative behavioral, pharmacological, biochemical and molecular approach to understand how certain food and drug rewards impact brain and behavior, which has potential therapeutic implications and is at the heart of our research endeavor. Our research has received funding from various internal and external sources and currently funded by the Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) - Research Continuance Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.  

In addition, the LEND is keenly interested in providing hands-on research training to students wishing to pursue a research career in pharmacology and neuroscience. Interested students can contact Dr. Sunil Sirohi for training opportunities.

Select Publications: 

Sirohi S*, Skripnikova E and Davis JF (2019) Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Attenuates Hedonic Feeding Without Impacting Alcohol Drinking in Rats. Obesity In Press.

Sirohi S, Richardson BD, Lugo JM, Rossi DJ and Davis JF (2017) Impact of Roux en Y Gastric Bypass Surgery on Appetite, Alcohol Intake Behaviors, and Midbrain Ghrelin Signaling in the Rat. Obesity 25: 1228-1236.

Sirohi S*, Vancleef A, and Davis JF (2017) Intermittent access to a nutritionally complete high-fat diet attenuates alcohol drinking in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 153:105-115.

Sirohi S, Vancleef A, and Davis JF (2017) Patterned Feeding Induces Neuroendocrine, Behavioral, and Genetic Changes that Promote Palatable Food Intake. Int J Obes* 41:412-419.

Sirohi S, Vancleef A, and Davis JF (2017) Binge-Feeding Behavior Attenuates Alcohol Intake in Rats. Physiol Behav 178: 187-195.

Sirohi S* and Tiwari AK (2016) Invited Editorial - Pain in the management of opioid use disorder. J Pain Res 9:963-966.

Sirohi S*, Schurdak JD, Seeley RJ, Benoit SC and Davis JF (2016) Central & peripheral glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor signaling differentially regulate addictive behaviors Physiol Behav 161:140-4.

Sirohi S and Walker BM (2015) Maturational changes in the medial prefrontal κ-opioid receptors constitutive activity. J Neurochem 135: 659-65.

Sirohi S, Bakalkin G and Walker BM (2012) Alcohol-induced plasticity in the dynorphin/kappa-opioid receptor system. Front Mol Neurosci 5, 95: 1-12.

Sirohi S, Dighe SV, Madia PA and Yoburn BC (2009) The relative potency of inverse opioid agonists and a neutral opioid antagonist in precipitated withdrawal and antagonism of analgesia and toxicity. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 330:513-519.

Sirohi S, Dighe SV, Walker EA and Yoburn BC (2008) The analgesic efficacy of fentanyl: relationship to tolerance and mu-opioid receptor regulation. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 91:115-120.

Sirohi S, Kumar P and Yoburn BC (2007) mu-Opioid receptor upregulation and functional supersensitivity are independent of antagonist efficacy. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 323:701-707.