Esa Korpi and his laboratory have focused on the neurobiology and neurochemistry of neuropsychiatric disorders, specializing in the long-term effects that GABAA receptor modifying drugs have on the dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and on other drugs that might counteract the effects of drugs of abuse. The current projects of the lab aim to elucidate the neural circuitry of the reward- and addiction-linked behaviors and to find new methods to modulate them.