Research Core Center---Neuroplasticity of Alcohol Addiction

描述（由申请人提供）：根据RFA-OD-09-005的要求，本资助申请将使用P30生物医学核心中心资助机制来支持聘用一名新招募的教员，该教员的研究将增强和扩大该机构现有研究团体的研究能力。该提案寻求支持，以聘请一名确定的教员候选人，他将加入南卡罗来纳医科大学（MUSC）的一个互动和多学科研究小组，该小组目前正在研究酒精成瘾和依赖的可塑性。MUSC长期致力于开展关于酒精/药物成瘾的广泛负面后果的医学教育，并在酒精和药物滥用相关问题的临床和临床前研究方面有着丰富多样的历史。酗酒是一种慢性复发性疾病。长期接触酒精与耐受性和依赖性的发展有关，酒精成瘾的特征是渴望酒精和强迫性寻求酒精的行为，往往导致过度和有害的饮酒水平。越来越多的证据表明，成瘾过程的这些行为表现可能反映了植根于学习和记忆可塑性的神经适应性变化。拟议的新教师招聘将增加和扩大MUSC神经可塑性酒精核心中心（ACC）小组的研究能力。在MUSC的ACC研究小组积极参与许多多学科和合作研究项目。因此，新的教职员工将沉浸在一个高度支持和富有成效的学术环境中，与许多在成瘾神经科学领域的杰出研究人员在一起。本建议的具体目的如下。目标1是成功招募一名非常有前途和富有成效的初级酒精研究员进入终身助理教授职位。目标2是为学院候选人作为酒精研究人员的成功职业发展提供适当的指导和研究环境。目的3是增强和扩展前扣带皮层在酒精依赖和成瘾的神经可塑性中的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This grant proposal is being submitted in response to RFA-OD-09-005 that uses the P30 Biomedical Core Center funding mechanism to support the hiring of a newly-recruited faculty member whose research will augment and expand the research capacity of the institution's existing research community. The proposal seeks support to hire an identified Faculty Candidate who will join an interactive and multidisciplinary group of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) who are currently investigating the plasticity of alcohol addiction and dependence. MUSC has had a long-standing commitment to medical education about the broad negative consequences of alcohol/drug addiction, and a rich and diverse history of clinical as well as preclinical research in alcohol and substance abuse related problems. Alcoholism is a chronic relapsing disorder. Prolonged exposure to alcohol is associated with the development of tolerance and dependence, and alcohol addiction is characterized by craving for alcohol and compulsive alcohol-seeking behavior that often leads to excessive and harmful levels of drinking. Accumulating evidence suggests that these behavioral manifestations of the addiction process likely reflect neuroadaptive changes that are rooted in the plasticity of learning and memory. The proposed new faculty hire will augment and expand the research capabilities of the neuroplasticity Alcohol Core Center (ACC) group at MUSC. The ACC group of investigators at MUSC is actively engaged in numerous multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects. Thus, the new faculty member will be immersed in a highly supportive and productive academic environment with many prominent researchers in the addiction neuroscience field. The specific aims of this proposal are as follows. Aim 1 is to successfully recruit a highly promising and productive junior alcohol researcher into a tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Aim 2 is to provide an appropriate mentoring and research environment for the successful career development of the Faculty Candidate as an alcohol researcher. Aim 3 is to augment and expand the capability of the ACC in the neuroplasticity of alcohol dependence and addiction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Alcohol is a widely abused substance with tremendous personal, financial and social costs. The hiring of a new research faculty to augment the development of an Alcohol Core Center to study how alcohol exposure leads to changes in brain function that underlies this disorder may lead to the development of effective therapeutic treatments.