{"id":27004,"date":"2024-07-23T12:32:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T16:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=27004"},"modified":"2024-07-23T13:33:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T17:33:53","slug":"marshall-university-awarded-grant-to-further-fentanyl-addiction-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2024\/07\/marshall-university-awarded-grant-to-further-fentanyl-addiction-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University awarded grant to further fentanyl addiction research\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University<\/span> was awarded <\/span>a <\/span>$3.3 million grant<\/span> (#<\/span><\/span>R01DA057931)<\/span><\/span> from <\/span>t<\/span>he National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) <\/span>to <\/span>examine <\/span>the genetic mechanisms that underlie fentanyl addiction<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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In 2022, fentanyl overdose was the leading cause of death for U.S. adults aged 18 to 45, according to<\/span> <\/span>Families Against Fentanyl<\/span><\/span><\/a> (2023).\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis alarming statistic highlights the urgent need <\/span>to <\/span>understand<\/span> why some people are more susceptible to <\/span>fentanyl <\/span>addiction,<\/span>\u201d said<\/span> <\/span>Price E.<\/span> Dickson, Ph.D.<\/span><\/span><\/a>, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine<\/span> and lead investigator<\/span> of this five-year study.<\/span> \u201cIdentifying <\/span>how certain genes influence the brain\u2019s response to fentanyl <\/span>will pave the way for the development of effective treatments<\/span>,<\/span> thus addressing a critical public health need.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to the incentive sensitization theory of addiction, repeated drug use can make the brain\u2019s reward system overly sensitive to drug-related cues, leading to a powerful craving for the drug<\/span>. <\/span>While both fentanyl addiction and incentive sensitization are known to be highly inheritable in humans and mice, the specific genetic mechanisms linking incentive sensitization to fentanyl addiction have remained elusive.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dickson and his team <\/span>will use a panel of genetically diverse mice in concert with advanced <\/span>neurogenomics<\/span> and neuroscience approaches to discover the genes and brain mechanisms that underlie vulnerability and resistance to fentanyl addiction. Co-investigators Brandon J. Henderson, Ph.D.<\/span>,<\/span> and Alejandro Q. Nato Jr. Ph.D., both associate professors of biomedical sciences at Marshall University, will bring <\/span>expertise<\/span> in neuroscience, <\/span>bioinformatics<\/span> and statistical genetics.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ultimately, this<\/span> pioneering research <\/span>may result in<\/span> the development of novel, more effective addiction treatments and, in so doing, address a critical need in public health.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0A<\/span>n <\/span>R01 research grant<\/span> is a prestigious funding <\/span>mechanism through the National Institutes of Health and its affiliated institutes and centers <\/span>that <\/span>supports<\/span> health-related research projects. Securing this <\/span>highly competitive <\/span>grant signifies recognition of the project’s scientific merit and its potential impact on advancing medical knowledge and improving public health.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University was awarded a $3.3 million grant (#R01DA057931) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to examine the genetic mechanisms that underlie fentanyl addiction.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2022, fentanyl overdose was the leading cause of death for U.S. adults aged 18 to 45, according to Families Against Fentanyl (2023).\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThis alarming statistic highlights the urgent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,26,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jcesom","category-news-releases","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27005,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27004\/revisions\/27005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}