Contact: Helen Yarborough
(843)792-3622
yarborm@musc.edu
Oct. 16, 2006
The goal of the Translational Research in Addiction Center is to study the neurobiological effects of methamphetamines and apply the research toward treatment
Charleston -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) a $3 million grant for the nation's first Translational Research in Addiction Center (TRAC), which will focus on the clinical neurobiology of methamphetamine dependence.
MUSC's TRAC was ranked the first in a nationwide competitive program initiated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The initiative is part of the larger goal of the NIH to develop research centers that can bridge the gap between basic preclinical science and clinical research. The MUSC TRAC will be recruiting methamphetamine-addicted individuals from the Lowcountry area to participate in the study.
Methamphetamine abuse and dependence has rapidly become a major health problem throughout the United States, while basic and clinical understanding of the neurobiology and treatment of methamphetamine addiction has lagged behind research on other drugs of abuse.
The TRAC, the first such program like it in the nation, will be directed by Ronald See, Ph.D., of MUSC's Department of Neurosciences. Co-investigators include Peter Kalivas, Ph.D., chairman of the department of Neurosciences, and Robert Malcolm, M.D., and Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D., of MUSC's Department of Psychiatry.
The TRAC will be funded by a $3-million NIH grant over the next four years. During this time, the investigators will develop integrated, multidisciplinary teams to explore the neural pathways, cognitive and behavioral dysfunctions, and potential treatments for methamphetamine addiction.
The TRAC will employ an animal model of relapse in conjunction with a clinical laboratory and brain imaging center in an innovative collaboration designed to directly test hypotheses derived from the animal model in human subjects. In turn, information derived from methamphetamine-dependent subjects in the clinical laboratory will inform and guide new directions in the animal model.
Importantly, neurobiological information gained from the projects will be used to develop novel therapies that will be effective in treating methamphetamine addiction and reducing the individual and public health consequences of this devastating illness.
For more information about MUSC's Department of Neurosciences, visit: http://neurosciences.musc.edu/.
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