in zoology from Pennsylvania State University (1969) and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Physiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (1972).

He published a landmark book in 2006 with his colleague Michel Le Moal entitled: Neurobiology of Addiction (Academic Press-Elsevier, Amsterdam).

Koob's work on the neurobiology of stress has included the characterization of behavioral functions in the central nervous system for catecholamines, opioid peptides, and corticotropin-releasing factor.

More recently, the focus has been on the neuroadaptations of these reward circuits and the recruitment of the brain stress systems during with the transition to dependence.

[2] Finally, Koob's recent contributions include scholarly treatises on the conceptual framework and theoretical bases for understanding the neurobiology of drug addiction.