Addiction

An $8.9 million grant from the NIH will establish the Vanderbilt AUD Research and Education Center, enhancing Vanderbilt University’s national leadership in neuroscience and addiction research. This initiative aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, advance understanding and treatment of alcohol use disorder, and engage the public through education and outreach efforts. Read More

Join the next Lab-to-Table conversation, “Beyond Addiction: Therapeutic Developments and Societal Impact” on Jan. 24 at 11:30 a.m. CT. Read More

Erin Calipari works to understand how drugs like opioids and cocaine alter learning circuits and neurochemistry in one of the country's epicenters of substance use disorder and addiction. Read More

The Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, led by Erin Calipari, advances research to understand how addiction and substance use disorder develops in the brain. VCAR’s goals are to develop new pharmaceutical strategies and to destigmatize addiction as a personal failing. Read More

VRS is set to host a sober tailgate and football watch party on Oct. 14. The program also connects students who are in recovery from addiction with resources such as individual coaching, social events, campus-wide prevention programming, and fentanyl testing strip and NARCAN distribution. Read More

Kristen Gilliland, who lost her son to an accidental overdose, and the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery premiered the documentary Speaking Through Me to educate teens on substance use and mental illness prevention. Read More

How is social media creating conversations about addiction and recovery? How is it building broader community? And how is it a complex space to engage with as a person in recovery? The discussion, led by Erin Calipari, will feature psychiatry experts on May 9. Read More

Four-time Grammy Award-winning musician Jason Isbell spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on addiction and sobriety and the intersection of sobriety, addiction and music in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences' Lab-to-Table Conversation on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at noon CT. Read More

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences’ Center for Addiction Research hosted a conversation featuring researchers and advocates about the intersection of incarceration, societal reentry and addiction for National Women Touched by Addiction Day, July 23. Read More

Exercise and movement may be a prescription to mitigate drug and alcohol seeking behavior due to its influence on the brain. Est. reading time: 3 mins. Read More

Research Snapshot: Neuroimaging research is the first to show an area of the brain’s role in early abstinence from alcohol, revealing key sex differences. Est. reading time 2.5 mins. Read More

Wide-ranging conversation addresses how creative culture and expectations of masculinity have shaped drug use, highlights the need to destigmatize addiction through science. Read More

In recognition of Alcohol Awareness Month, the School of Medicine Basic Sciences will host a conversation between Will Welch, global editorial director of "GQ" magazine, and the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research on Wednesday, April 21, from 11 a.m. to noon CT. Read More

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Erin Calipari will share insight into how addiction has changed due to COVID-19 at fundraiser for local nonprofit Mending Hearts. Read More

Histamine — commonly associated with allergies — also has a signaling role in the brain’s reward center and may offer a novel target for treating addiction. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified and characterized inhibitors of an enzyme that synthesizes lipid signaling molecules with roles in energy balance, inflammation and addiction. Read More

Danny Winder and colleagues are teasing apart the actions of neurotransmitter receptors in a brain region linked to anxiety and addiction, with a goal of finding treatments for substance use disorders. Read More

New study from neuroscientists at Vanderbilt provides initial answers to long-standing scientific questions on what causes the transition from moderate to compulsive alcohol consumption – and what makes some drinkers particularly vulnerable to developing alcohol use disorders. Read More

But long before female-specific medications are available, treatment centers could use the information in this study to educate women about their stronger mental connections to places and objects. Read More

There’s promise in specific immune system peptides—amino acid compounds that signal cells how to function. In this case, they may be affecting brain activity and, by extension, drug cravings. Read More