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