My research program applies my graduate training in sex differences and memory with my postdoctoral training in substance use disorder research to address one of the most complex issues associated with the successful treatment of SUDs; the initiation and maintenance of abstinence following addiction. Relapse often occurs when exposure to a prior drug context (e.g. the SUDs individuals home, a bar) elicits a memory that drives motivation for the drug. To add further intricacy, there are substantial sex differences in craving indicating that women may face significantly greater hurdles in maintaining drug abstinence. Thus, understanding mechanisms of drug memory and sex differences in SUDs are the critical foci of my research with the ultimate goal of identifying translational therapeutic targets for SUDs. My work advances a unique and successful research program that combines basic research in clinically translational animal models with molecular techniques to discover sex differences in molecular signatures that respond to circuit activation during drug seeking, pathological motivation for drug, and drug relapse. My overarching experimental topics include: determining sex differences in the recruitments of circuits driving relapse, investigation of the relationship between oxytocin and hormonal cyclicity in extended drug access, and the role of developmental agents on sex differences in the progression of addiction.