Biological Bases of Alcoholism

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Ph.D. and postdoctoral training program will create specialists who will be able to conduct preclinical research at all levels, from molecular to behavioral, focused on the biological mechanisms underlying initial sensitivity to alcohol, as well as the development, maintenance, and elimination of alcoholism. These trainees will also be thoroughly competent to teach in these areas. Twenty-four members of the OHSU graduate faculty will train postdoctoral research fellows and graduate students entering programs in Behavioral Neuroscience or Neuroscience. Training will include firm curricular grounding in the basic sciences, specific training in pharmacology of alcohol and other abused drugs, exposure to clinical and psychosocial aspects of human alcoholism, the practice and ethics of science, and extensive and continuous participation in basic research. The focus of our training opportunities is on biological processes involved in the etiology of problem drinking and alcoholism. Our general approach is interdisciplinary, emphasizing genetic, molecular, physiological, pharmacological, and psychological/behavioral processes. The research questions fall into five general areas: (1) genetic bases for alcohol responses, (2) learned and unlearned determinants of alcohol reward, (3) neurobiological bases for the rewarding and aversive effects of alcohol, (4) neuroadaptive mechanisms associated with ethanol dependence, tolerance, and sensitization, and (5) effects of alcohol on memory and cognition. Information about alcohol effects is contrasted with similar information about other drugs of abuse to identify common biological mechanisms. The general areas reflect the research interests and expertise of a participating faculty using behavioral, systems-level, and cellular/molecular methods. Their shared biobehavioral perspective is consistent with growing evidence indicating that many forms of human alcoholism are best understood in terms of an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Areas of faculty collaboration in studies of alcohol and other drug effects include: studies of genetic determinants; neuroendocrine and neuroactive steroid participation; studies of dopaminergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic systems; studies of rewarding and aversive effects; studies of sensitization, tolerance, and dependence/withdrawal phenomena; studies of correlated traits such as impulsivity; and studies focused on neuroanatomical pathways.