New Publication

Anxiety is a powerful driver of drug addiction, yet many standard anti-anxiety medications are not currently used to treat substance use disorders. Our latest research explores how targeting the brain's stress systems might offer a new way to prevent and treat cocaine addiction. By using a common medication called propranolol, we found that we could not only prevent the transition into heavy cocaine use but also reduce the deep seated motivation to seek the drug. The Question

We are currently facing a global public health crisis involving substance use disorders, which account for over 5% of the total global disease burden. While addiction has traditionally been viewed as a strictly "brain-based" disorder, our latest review, is revealing that the trillions of microbes living in your gut, collectively known as the microbiome, may play a leading role in how we respond to drugs. The Question: Can the Gut Control the Brain? We wanted to understand the

For decades, the common wisdom about nicotine has been simple: it’s an appetite suppressant. We’ve all seen the pattern where smokers tend to weigh less, while those who quit often face a struggle with weight gain. However, our latest study, a collaboration with researchers at Aix-Marseilles Université, suggests that this story is more complicated than we thought. It turns out that while nicotine causes weight loss in the long run, its immediate effect on the brain might actu

Cocaine addiction remains a critical public health crisis with no FDA-approved medication currently available. In our latest research, a collaboration between our team and the lab of Eric Kandel at Columbia University, we explored the potential of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a high-tech solution. While DBS has successfully treated movement disorders for decades, its role in addiction is more complex than we initially thought. The Question: Can We "Zap" Away Cocaine Use?

We often think of addiction as a slow slide into habit, but what if the brain actually has a "molecular switch" that fundamentally changes how it responds to drugs? Our latest research, a collaboration with the University of Toronto and the lab of Derek van der Kooy, has identified a specific protein that can "flip" a drug-naive brain into a state that looks exactly like nicotine dependence—even without previous drug use. The Question: What Drives the Transition? While we kno

The drug overdose crisis is a call to action for all of us, but to solve it, we need to make sure we are asking the right questions. In our latest perspective piece, a collaboration between our team and the labs of Serge Ahmed at the University of Bordeaux and Nicholas Gilpin at LSU Health New Orleans, we challenge a common assumption in the field: the idea that addiction is defined almost exclusively by "compulsive" behavior. The Question: Is "Compulsion" Everything? In both

We’ve all seen the devastating headlines about the drug overdose crisis. But behind the statistics lies a profound biological mystery: why does the brain stay "rewired" for addiction even long after someone stops using? Our latest study, a collaboration between our team and the lab of Francesca Telese at UC San Diego, is helping us peer under the hood of the brain's "control panel" to understand how substances like cocaine and oxycodone change the way our genes are managed. T

Leptin: A Protective Factor Against Cocaine Addiction Cocaine doesn't just affect the brain's reward system—it also dramatically alters appetite, metabolism, and body weight. We investigated whether leptin, a hormone that regulates both feeding and reward, might play a role in vulnerability to cocaine addiction. Using samples from the Cocaine Biobank and genetically diverse rats, we discovered that leptin may be a protective factor against developing addiction-like behaviors.

Alcohol addiction hijacks the brain's stress systems, making withdrawal feel unbearable and driving continued drinking. We investigated whether a brain chemical called hypocretin/orexin—which plays key roles in both stress and reward—might be a promising target for treating alcohol dependence. This work was conducted in collaboration with the Schmeichel Lab. The Research Question We wanted to understand whether blocking different types of hypocretin receptors (called HCRT-R1

Flip through any neuroscience journal and you'll notice something striking: the same brain regions appear over and over again. The hippocampus, the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex—these are neuroscience's greatest hits. But what about the rest of the brain? We analyzed 197 brain regions and found that just 9 regions account for 75% of published research, while the remaining 188 regions represent only 25% of studies. That's a problem. The Research Question We wanted to explore

Alcohol addiction doesn't just affect the brain's reward system, it fundamentally alters how our bodies handle stress. We've known for years that the stress hormone system goes haywire during alcohol dependence, but finding safe, effective medications to target this system has remained elusive. In collaboration with the Vendruscolo and Mason labs, we set out to test whether a new class of drugs that modulate stress hormone receptors could reduce alcohol consumption. The Resea

When I study addiction, I often encounter a significant challenge: most research relies on genetically similar lab rats. This approach fails to capture the diversity present in human populations. It's akin to trying to understand a disease's impact by examining only one family. I realized we needed a more effective strategy. The Research Question My goal was to create comprehensive resources that would aid researchers in understanding why some individuals become addicted whil

We've all heard that addiction affects people differently. But why do some individuals spiral into severe addiction while others can take or leave drugs? We investigated this question using an innovative approach with genetically diverse rats, and what we found challenges some common assumptions about addiction. The Research Question We wanted to understand whether individual differences in addiction-like behaviors predict how much a rat will choose drugs over other rewarding

A key aspect of treating drug abuse is understanding similarities and differences of how drugs of abuse affect the brain. The George Lab published a new study investigating how the brain is altered during withdrawal from psychostimulants. Using single-cell whole-brain imaging in mice, we found that each drug produced a unique pattern of activity in the brain, but that brains in withdrawal from cocaine and methamphetamine shared similar features. Interestingly, we found the m

The George Lab published a new study investigating electronic cigarette use. The main goal of the study was to validate a new pre-clinical model of nicotine vapor self-administration with anatomical and behavioral characterization of dependence. We examined the effects of chronic nicotine vapor intake on key behaviors that are related to nicotine withdrawal in male and female rats, including hyperalgesia, somatic signs, and anxiety-like behavior. Our data showed that two wee

Our newest review, “Role of CRF in Alcohol and Nicotine Addiction” was recently published in a special collection on "The Role of...

Substance use disorders are complex. Genetics, environment, and exposure all play a role in drug use. Recently, there has been evidence...

This new paper provide the first brain map of alcohol dependence at single cell resolution in an animal model of Alcohol use disorder....

This paper provide preclinical evidence that targeting the D3 receptors may provide efficacy in the treatment of opioid use disorder....

This new paper identify a neuropeptide that is acting in a key brain region responsible for opioid dependence and demonstrates that it is...