Cody Siciliano

Research into combating cocaine addiction has been limited by the difficulty in structuring accurate animal models; standard practice relies on implanting IV catheters that the animals can use to self-dose. Now Assistant Professor Cody Siciliano's lab has devised a method that more closely mimics cocaine use in humans—effectively, a way for the animals to snort cocaine. This makes the animal model more analogous to human experience, and it reduces surgical and intravenous procedures for the animals. "This model provides a powerful framework for linking motivated drug use with real-time neural activity, offering new opportunities to study the circuitry underlying reinforcement and decision-making," Siciliano said. Read More

Vanderbilt assistant professor of pharmacology Cody Siciliano has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study oral chemesthesis, the burning sensation you feel in your mouth when you sip alcohol. Understanding this sensation better could lead to new treatments for alcohol use disorders, but research in this area is scarce. 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

Cody Siciliano, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a one-year, $100,000 research award from the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund to support his studies of the neural substrates of memory. 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