Category Archive for : ‘Funding & Grants’

Dr. Abraham Palmer was awarded an R01 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for his project titled “A Novel Pharmacotherapy for Alcoholism: Evaluation of Reward, Aversion, Compulsivity, Withdrawal & Reinstatement.” This is a five year grant that starts July 5, 2018 and ends April 30, 2023. This grant will fund a project to study how and why inhibitors of the enzyme GLO1 decrease ethanol drinking in mice and to develop GLO1 inhibitors for use as a therapy for alcohol use disorder.

Dr. Abraham Palmer was awarded a High Impact Research Project Award from the California Tobacco Related-Disease Research Program (TRDRP) for his project titled “Genetic relationship between impulsivity and nicotine abuse.” This is a three year, $750,000 grant that starts July 1, 2018 and ends June 30, 2021.  This grant will fund a large project to study the genetics of impulsivity and a variety of traits related to smoking and other forms of drug abuse.

A U01 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was awarded to Dr. Robert Hitzemann, Dr. Suzanne Mitchell, and Dr. Abraham Palmer. The grant, titled “Identification of genetic features of delay discounting using a heterogeneous stock rat model,” will start on July 1, 2018 and will end April 30, 2023.

The NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently awarded the Scripps Research team two separate grants totaling $7.5 million. The five-year grants will allow the researchers, led by Dr. Olivier George, to combine next-generation sequencing with rodent behavioral screening in a genetically diverse, nonhuman animal model of drug addiction. They will also create shared tissue banks for other researchers to use in addiction-related studies.

Dr. George’s group will collaborate with the lab of Dr. Leah Catherine Solberg Woods at Wake Forest University, who will breed the rats, and the lab of Dr.

A new U01 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was awarded to Dr. Tom Jhou and Dr. Abraham Palmer. The grant, titled “Genomic Analysis of Avoidance Learning in Addiction,” will start on April 15, 2018 and will end January 31, 2023.

A new U01 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was awarded to Olivier George from TSRI. Dr. Palmer is a co-investigator on this project, which will use HS rats to perform a GWAS for extended access to oxycodone. The grant (U01DA044451-01A1) titled “Use of Next-Gen Sequencing to Identify Genetic Variants that Influence Compulsive Oxycodone Intake in Outbred Rats” will start on April 1, 2018 and will end January 31, 2023.

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation presented the Palmer Lab with honors for one of the Top Advancements & Breakthroughs by Foundation Grantees in 2017. This list illustrates some of the major research achievements by BBRF grantees over the past year.

For the past 30 years, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Grants have funded the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry.

This past year, BBRF funded more than $19 million divided between approximately 400 Young Investigator Grantees, approximately 80 Independent Investigator Grantees, and 15 Distinguished Investigator Grantees who are expected to

Dr. Sandra Sanchez-Roige was recently awarded the Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship in NeuroAIDS (IRFN). This is a two-year program that includes research mentorship by UCSD neuroAIDS faculty as well as career training and seminars.

The IRFN, with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), provides training experiences that emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of clinical problems in neuroAIDS to prepare scientists for their future in the field. Congratulations, Sandra!

For more information, visit IRFN.

Dr. Yu-yu Ren was selected to receive a T32 Fellowship in Biopsychiatry and Neuroscience. The fellowship is a 2-year program that is aimed at training physicians and psychologist in conducting research towards the understanding of the biological underpinnings of mental disorders. Yu-yu’s research will focus on identifying novel gene targets that influence anxiety and depression using a panel of near-isogenic mice. Congratulations, Yu-yu!

Their grant, “Identification of Genetic Variants that Contribute to Compulsive Cocaine Intake in Rats” was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This project seeks to elucidate the genetic basis of cocaine intake and other drug abuse-related behaviors in rats. Dr. Abraham Palmer will be the PI for the UCSD subcontract portion of the project.