Category Archive for : ‘P50 NIDA Center of Excellence’

The article, “Premature responding is associated with approach to a food cue in male and female heterogeneous stock rats”, was accepted for publication in Psychopharmacology.

Authors include Christopher King, Abraham Palmer, Leah Solberg Woods, Larry Hawk, Jerry Richards, and Paul Meyer.

This study is part of Research Project 3 (“Association between behavioral regulation and cocaine cue preference”) of the P50 Center for GWAS in Outbred Rats, of which Dr. Palmer is the Director.

The Conte Center at the University of Chicago held its 4th annual Brain Awareness Day on October 24, 2015. The event gathered over 100 high school students, teachers, and other guests.

Brain Awareness Day was supported in part by the NIDA Center for GWAS in Outbred Rats. Oksana Polesskaya (Scientific Coordinator) presented an overview of the Center’s research.

Nicholas Grahame, Ph.D., Eva E. Redei, Ph.D., and Erik Jorgensen, Ph.D. delivered lectures on topics related to brain research. Graduate students form University of Chicago prepared demonstrations ranging from fixed human brains to electrophysiology

The second annual retreat for the NIDA National Center for GWAS in Outbred Rats was held on October 16-17th! Twenty three Center members and ten Advisory Board members from across the nation gathered on the University of Chicago campus to discuss the progress and future directions of the projects.

The NIDA National Center of Excellence was founded in 2014 to utilize cutting-edge genetic methods to elucidate the genetics of drug abuse-related behaviors in rats. The P50 grant is titled “Integrated GWAS of complex behavioral and gene expression traits in outbred rats”

The Gene and Addiction Center’s first Research Experience for High School and Undergraduate Students (REHU) concluded with a symposium on August 13th in the Gordon Center for Integrative Science at the University of Chicago.

Shibani Chettri of the Palmer Lab presented the results of her 10-week summer research project. Her talk was titled “GLO1 Inhibitors And Their Effects In The Chronic Mild Stress Model Of Depression In Mice”. Great job, Shibani!

The first Rat Genetics and Genomics for Psychiatric Disorders and Addiction workshop was held on Monday June 29th in the Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago. Speakers from all over the world came to discuss recent advances in rat genetics and genomics as well as the genetics of substance abuse and addiction. See the full schedule here!

Dr. Abraham Palmer presented a talk titled “Center for GWAS in outbred rats: current activities and opportunities for future collaborations”. Three Palmer Lab members (current graduate students Katherine McMurray & Alex Gileta,

The NIDA National Center for GWAS in Outbred Rats was highlighted in the University of Chicago Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience’s Spring 2015 newsletter. Dr. Palmer is the Principal Director of this multi-site effort to refine understanding of the genetic basis of drug abuse and addiction. Read the full newsletter here! More information about the NIDA Center is available here.

The University of Chicago’s student-run newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, recently highlighted Dr. Palmer’s work for the new NIDA National Center of Excellence for GWAS in Outbred Rats. The Center seeks to use rats to investigate the genetic basis of drug abuse and other related behaviors. You can read the full article here!

A recent article by Jeremy Allen of the Michigan Live focuses on the exciting research being done by Terry Robinson and Shelly Flagel of the University of Michigan as part of the new national Center of Excellence for GWAS in Outbred Rats (led by Abraham Palmer, University of Chicago).

Both labs were awarded a five-year, $1.5 million grant to study addiction-related behaviors in rats. Their project is titled “Genetic Studies of Incentive Salience” and is one of four initial projects supported by the Center. They will investigate the genetic basis of

Kevin Jiang of Science Life recently highlighted the research being done at the new NIDA National Center for Excellence for GWAS in Outbred Rats, which is led by Dr. Abraham Palmer. Dr. Palmer elaborated on the goals of the center as well as the benefits of using rats to specifically study drug abuse-related behaviors. You can read the full article here!

The first of many annual retreats for the NIDA National Center of Excellence for Genome-wide Association Studies in Outbred Rats (P50DA037844) was held on September 17th! Collaborators from across the nation gathered on the University of Chicago campus to meet one another, discuss the goals of the center, and brainstorm for upcoming projects.

The NIDA National Center of Excellence was founded in 2014 to utilize cutting-edge genetic methods to elucidate the genetics of drug abuse-related behaviors in rats. The P50 grant is titled “Integrated GWAS of complex behavioral and gene expression