We are constantly searching for new ways to treat alcohol use disorder (AUD), a condition that affects millions of people and leads to significant health and economic costs. Recently, a type of drug called a PPAR-alpha agonist showed great promise in animal studies, significantly reducing alcohol consumption in mice and rats. In our latest research, we performed a "reverse translational" study to understand why these exciting results didn't carry over to humans in a clinical

Cocaine use disorder is a major public health crisis with significant social and economic costs, yet there are currently no FDA-approved medications to treat it. While genetics certainly play a role in addiction, they do not tell the whole story. In our recent study, we explored the "missing heritability" of addiction by looking at epigenetics , specifically microRNAs (miRNAs) , to see how they change the brain during the difficult periods of withdrawal and long-term abstinen

Smoking remains a massive global health crisis, causing one in ten deaths worldwide. While many people want to quit, the intense grip of nicotine addiction makes it incredibly difficult, with roughly 80% of attempts ending in relapse. In our latest study with the Bardwell lab at HHMI, we used the power of "directed evolution" to supercharge a bacterial enzyme that can eat nicotine in the blood before it ever reaches the brain. The Big Question We focused on an enzyme called N