Vanderbilt Center For Addiction Research

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

Avenir Award funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse recognizes research that represents “the future of addiction science.” Brown’s research is creating an AI-experiment feedback loop that will help optimize painkilling drugs to be less addictive. 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

Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research Associate Director Erin Calipari, with funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, will investigate what happens in the brain that makes individuals return to drinking after periods of abstinence. Read More

Stressful events can rapidly modify how the brain responds to its environment and guides behaviors. These processes are relevant for neurotypical brain function and for the development of affective disorders and other psychiatric diseases, yet we have much to learn regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms. In this paper, researchers utilized pharmacologic, transgenic, and optogenetic tools to evaluate changes in brain function related to stress. Read More

Ege T. Kavalali, William Stokes Professor of Experimental Therapeutics, has been named chair of the Department of Pharmacology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences. Read More

Erin Calipari, assistant professor of pharmacology and a member of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, has been named a Dean’s Faculty Fellow of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences. 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

Discovery shows that dopamine is not a reward molecule at all, calling for revision of textbook facts regarding the hormone’s role in the brain. Est. reading time: 3.5 mins. 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

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

Addiction thrives in isolation, so sheltering in place and social distancing during COVID-19 can be challenging for people in recovery as well as for those who are susceptible to substance misuse, says Andrew Finch, an addiction expert and Vanderbilt Peabody College professor. 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

The third annual Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research Science Day will be held Monday, Nov. 18, at the Belcourt Theatre. Read More

Erin Calipari, a principal investigator at the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, has dedicated herself to making groundbreaking discoveries. As the daughter of Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari, she's embracing her platform to share important scientific breakthroughs with people who might not otherwise be paying attention. 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

The second annual Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research Science Day is scheduled for Nov. 16 at the Belcourt Theater. 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

Erin Calipari could be described as a code breaker. Using technologies that allow her to probe the activity of single neurons in awake and behaving animals, she is piecing together the neural code that controls motivation and decision-making. Read More