National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Mouse study advances knowledge of habitual behavior pathophysiology Daily activities involve frequent transitions between habitual behaviors, such as driving home, and goal-directed behaviors, such as driving to a new destination on unfamiliar roads. An inability to shift between habitual and non-habitual behaviors has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction, and other disorders characterized by impaired decision-making. In a new...

Researchers have long known that dopamine, a brain chemical that plays important roles in the control of normal movement, and in pleasure, reward and motivation, also plays a central role in substance abuse and addiction. In a new study conducted in animals, scientists found that a specific dopamine receptor, called D2, on dopamine-containing neurons controls an organism’s activity level and...

Dysregulated cellular response to estrogen and progesterone suspected. National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers have discovered molecular mechanisms that may underlie a woman’s susceptibility to disabling irritability, sadness, and anxiety in the days leading up to her menstrual period. Such premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) affects 2 to 5 percent of women of reproductive age, whereas less severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS)...

October 18, 2019

Scientists have been developing astounding new tools for exploring neural circuits that underlie brain function throughout the first five years of the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies ® (BRAIN) Initiative . Now, the NIH has announced its continued support for these projects by funding over 180 new BRAIN Initiative awards, bringing the total 2019 budget...

ICCFASD Public Meeting April 23, 2021 Special Panel FASD Prevention and Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Focus on Women and Individuals Living with FASD Invited Speakers Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, is Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Katherine’s research focuses on psychiatric and substance use epidemiology across the life course, including early and...

Girls who suffered childhood sexual abuse are more likely to develop alcoholism later in life if they possess a particular variant of a gene involved in the body’s response to stress, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The new finding...

Middle schoolers face peer pressure in many different ways, whether it’s to have the latest smartphone or app, wear trendy clothes, or go somewhere to hang out with friends. Your middle schooler will feel peer pressure when they are being pushed toward making certain choices—good or bad— by their friends or classmates. What’s so difficult about avoiding peer pressure? Simply...

Also known as “Diversity Supplements” Links Introduction Administrative Requirements Eligibility for the Program Research Plan Career Development Plan/Mentoring Requirements Candidate Statement/Biosketch Transcript Requirements Budget and Salary Requirements Submission and Receipt of Applications Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Links NIH Policies Updated information on the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal...

Mission Statement: Focuses on identifying the molecular components of intracellular signaling cascades. Ion Channel Modulation by Second Messenger Systems The Section on Transmitter Signaling focuses primarily on determining the molecular mechanisms underlying G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) modulation of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in neuronal systems using electrophysiological, optical, molecular, and biochemical techniques. A consequence of modulation, which usually manifests as a...

Pretreating transplanted livers with the immune molecule interleukin-6 (IL-6) dramatically increased survival of rats receiving organs with fatty degeneration—a common condition in humans that typically reduces transplant viability. The results suggest a means of making it possible to use a higher percentage of available donor livers for transplantation in humans. With over three times as many Americans needing transplants as...

NIAAA/COGA DATA AND BIOMATERIALS DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT-- WAVE I and WAVE II WHEREAS, the national Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ("NIAAA") pursuant to its public health mission to identify and characterize the genetic basis of alcohol-related disorders supports research projects in which there is collection by scientific investigators and their relatives; WHEREAS, anonymous blood samples obtained from Wave I and/or...

The Laboratory on Neurobiology of Compulsive Behaviors aims to understand the causes of substance use disorder (SUD). More specifically, we focus on the neuronal mechanisms that drive the high motivation to consume substances of abuse in SUD, and the compulsive aspects of SUD that generate a loss of control over consumption. Given that only a portion of individuals who are...

What we do Alcohol use disorder (AUD) has a tremendous negative individual and global impact, and there is an urgent need to understand its etiology and to advance treatment for this devastating illness. Research on the clinical pharmacology of alcohol is necessary to explain how variability in alcohol response affects the risk of developing AUD. The premise underlying the research...

Mechanisms for mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver and tissue injury – Dr. Song and his lab members have studied regulations and roles of the two enzymes involved in metabolism of alcohol and acetaldehyde: the ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) and mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2). In particular, the functional implications of increased CYP2E1 and decreased ALDH2...

Our senses are essential for us to interact with the world. Our five senses–sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell work closely to enable the mind to understand its surroundings better. In humans, chemical senses mediate safety, nutrition, the sensation of pleasure, and general well-being. Taste, olfaction, and chemesthesis (refers to chemical irritation from the burning of chili peppers, the cooling...

What we do The Clinical NeuroImaging Research Core (CNIRC) serves two functions: Conducting independent addiction neuroimaging, neuropsychophysiological, and neuromodulation studies as well as providing expertise in these areas, through collaborations and support to clinical investigators. Research interests include: Investigate the neural correlates of cognition, emotions, decision making, motivation, impulsive and compulsive behaviors, and their association with alcohol use disorder (AUD)...

Research in the Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience (LIN) examines the role of particular molecules in control of actions, acute alcohol intoxication, alcohol seeking behavior, alcohol use disorder and habitual behavior. Another aim of research in LIN is to examine the molecular mechanisms of synaptic modulation and plasticity related to action and habit learning. An important unifying theme of research within...

Our laboratory has been actively investigating basic liver biology and liver immunology. By using the knowledge gained through these studies, we are investigating the immunological aspects and molecular pathogenesis of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) and liver cancer, and exploring novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of these maladies. Recent Cover Stories Monocyte-derived macrophages repair necrotic liver lesions . Journal of...

The mission of the lab is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of fibrosis, to explore novel therapeutic targets and to develop effective pharmacotherapies for fibrotic disorders of different etiologies, including alcohol use disorders. We are particularly interested in pursuing a multi-target therapeutic approach to improve treatment efficacy by simultaneously engaging multiple pathogenic...

The principal mission of the lab is to develop selective probes and drug-like molecules to enable the study of molecular mechanisms in alcohol associated diseases. The lab aims to use medicinal chemistry and chemical biology approaches to design, synthesize and biologically characterize novel druggable tools for select GPCRs and enzymatic drug targets implicated in pain, inflammatory and fibrotic disorders. Our...