RIA collaborates on study on genetics of drug addiction

Scientists at UBs Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) are taking part in a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Center of Excellence study on the genetics of drug abuse.

The study is funded by a $12 million grant to Abraham Palmer, associate professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, to establish the NIDA Center for Genome-Wide Association Studies in Outbred Rats. The center will combine complex behavioral studies with recent technological advances in rat genetics to help scientists shed light on the genes behind drug addiction.

Research groups from UB, University of Michigan, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Medical College of Wisconsin will work in collaboration with the NIDA Center of Excellence on specific genetic research projects.

Jerry Richards, RIA research scientist, will lead UBs participation in collaboration with Joseph Lucke, RIA senior research scientist, and Paul Meyer, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology.

Richards group will explore the link between addiction and various behaviors, such as response to novelty, sustained attention and reaction time. It also will look at preference for a large, delayed reward compared to smaller immediate rewards, and why some animals strongly react to cues that have been associated with cocaine. How these behaviors are related to each other and drug abuse will be investigated, as well as their genetic underpinnings.

RIA Director Kenneth Leonard and Stephen Tiffany, Empire Innovation Professor and chair of the UB Department of Psychology, will serve on the advisory board for the NIDA Center of Excellence.

Other scientists across the country who will participate in the center include Terry Robinson, Elliott S. Valenstein Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University at Michigan; Shelly Flagel, research assistant professor of psychiatry, Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan; Hao Chen, assistant professor of pharmacology, Health Science Center, University of Tennessee; and Leah Solberg Woods, associate professor of pediatrics, Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin. Their projects will study subjects including the genetic basis for differences in reward-seeking behavior and the genetic influence of nicotine self-administration in rats.

More information on the NIDA Center for Genome-Wide Association Studies in Outbred Rats is available online.

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RIA collaborates on study on genetics of drug addiction