NEUROIMAGING CENTER
Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory | Funding
NEUROIMAGING CENTER
Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory & Sleep Research Laboratory | Funding
The BPRL is supported by federal grants, primarily from NIDA, NIAAA and NCCAM. These include the R01, R03, and R21 Demonstration Projects, T32 (Post-Doctoral) and K awards for new training opportunities, and the K05 Senior Scientist Award. In addition, private contracts have supported some of the sleep-related research.
Contract Funding
Alkermes, Inc. This contract awarded to Dr. Lukas will study the mechanism of action of a depot formulation of naltrexone (Vivitrol) on alcohol-related cue reactivity in recently abstinent treatment-seeking persons using fMRI techniques.
Grant Funding
K05 DA00343-10 Pharmacological and Behavioral Indices of Drug Abuse. This Senior Scientist Career Development Award was awarded to S. Lukas to allow him to continue to focus his full time efforts exploring innovative basic research ideas in brain imaging and the behavioral effects of drugs while conducting applied clinical research in the area of drug abuse. He had held a K02 award since 1986.
R01 AA10536-08 – Isoflavone Treatment for Alcohol Abuse was awarded to Dr. Lukas to assess the potential efficacy of isoflavone treatment on acute and chronic ethanol effects including craving and self-administration by male and female volunteers in a controlled laboratory setting.
R21 DA11954-03 Drug Use and Laboratory Measures of Rational Choice was awarded to Dr. Heyman to support research on the relationships between performance in computer choice games and drug use history.
R01 DA017959-04 – PTSD and Drug Dependence: Neuroimaging of Reward Circuitry awarded to Dr. Elman will investigate brain reward function as a potential neuropathological basis for substance use disorders comorbidity in post-traumatic stress disorder.
R01 DA016542-04 – Neurochemical Substrates of Sleep Homeostasis was awarded to Dr. Lukas to use polysomnography and phosphorous MRI to identify Neurochemical markers for sleep deprivation and recovery in drug-dependent individuals.
T32 DA015036-06 – Training in Drug Abuse and Brain Imaging was awarded to Dr. Lukas to provide training opportunities for up to 4 post-doctoral fellows in applying imaging techniques (MRI, fMRI, MRS) to understanding the neural basis of drug addictions.
P01 AT002038-04 - Prevention of Cocaine Abuse with Electrical Stimulation is Project 3 of a center grant “Alternative Therapies for Alcohol and Drug Abuse” awarded to Dr. Lee. Dr. Lukas is testing a new electroacupuncture technique to reduce drug use and drug cravings. Project 4 ‘Chinese Herbal Medicine to Treat Alcohol and Drug Abuse' will study the ability of extracts of the herbal medicine Kudzu to reduce alcohol intake.
R44 AA152200 – Development of Puerarin (NPI-031G) to Reduce Alcohol Drinking was awarded to Dr. Lee to develop a formulation of this isoflavone for human use. Dr. Lukas will conduct studies to evaluate its efficacy in reducing alcohol intake in a variety of settings.
K01 DA21730-01 Pharmacologic MRI of Smoked Tobacco: Effects of Abstinence and Dependence was awarded to Dr. Lindsey to provide advanced imaging techniques training in the study of nicotine's behavioral and neurophysiological effects.
R03 DA021231-01 – fMRI of Cigarette Smoking: Effects of withdrawal and conditioned reinforcement was awarded to Dr. Lindsey to study the effects of intravenous nicotine administration. The studies will allow dissociation of the effects of nicotine on BOLD signal from the effects of conditioned reinforcers which have become associated with the effects of nicotine over time.
K01 DA023659-01 fMRI Studies Investigating the Choice Effects of Sedative/Hypnotics was awarded to Dr. Licata to provide training in human clinical pharmacology while applying advanced neuroimaging methods to the study of benzodiazepine neuropharmacology.
R03 DA017275 – Bupropion Effects on Marijuana Withdrawal Symptoms was awarded to Dr. Penetar to study the effectiveness of bupropion to alleviate withdrawal symptoms in marijuana-dependent individuals.
Livingston Fellowship, Harvard Medical School Alcohol and Marihuana Use in PTSD: A Symptom Provocation Study was awarded to Dr. Hopper to study relationships of PTSD symptoms and substance use.
Livingston Fellowship, Harvard Medical School Electroacupuncture for Inpatient Opioid Detoxification was awarded to Dr. Meade to test whether electroacupuncture, provided as an adjunctive treatment, produces improved outcomes among persons receiving inpatient detoxification from opioids.
American Foundation for AIDS Research (106884-42-RFBR) Impulsivity, Drug Abuse, and HIV Medication Adherence: An fMRI Study was awarded to Dr. Meade to compare HIV patients with and without cocaine dependence on impulsivity and adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and test whether differences in brain functioning underlie the relationship between impulsivity and antiretroviral therapy adherence.
Harvard University Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI 060354, subcontract) - Impulsivity and Risk Behavior in HIV and Cocaine Dependence: An fMRI pilot
Study was awarded to Dr. Meade to enhance our understanding of the effects
of HIV disease on cognitive neurobiological processes associated with health
risk behaviors among HIV-infected cocaine abusers. The specific aims are to:
(1) compare cocaine dependent adults with early and advanced HIV disease on
cognitive impulsivity and health risk behaviors, and (2) identify brain
regions associated with these processes using fMRI.
K25 DA016612 Neurobiological Bases of Drug Abuse: Novel Techniques was awarded to Dr. Lowen to investigate the effects of olfactory drug-related cues, determine methods for removing motion artifacts in fMRI, and develop robust methods for analyzing the acquired fMRI data.
K25 DA017712 – Novel Use of fMRI to Study Substance Abuse Problems was awarded to Dr. Nickerson to develop innovative technologies and procedures for studying brain mechanisms involved in the addictive process, and in evaluating potential medication treatments.