May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsINIA-N Consortium in the Atlantic magazine March 22, 2017 The Atlantic interviews Drs. Adron Harris, Barbara Mason, and George Koob about repurposing existing drugs to treat alcoholism. Read the article here.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsBrigitte Kieffer received the Linköping Neuroscience Lecture Award May 17, 2018 Brigitte L. Kieffer, INIA PI, Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, and Scientific Director of the Douglas Mental Health Research Center has been awarded with the Linköping Neuroscience Award.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsEdith Sullivan received an international award from École Pratique des Hautes Études June 21, 2018 INIA PI Edith Sullivan, Ph.d. received the prestigious international award, Doctor Honoris Causa from the École Pratique des Hautes Études. To celebrate its 150th birthday and celebrate the world research it has been involved in since its founding, the École Pratique des Hautes Études awards an honorary doctorate in 2018 to five personalities who mark the world of science and culture. The honorary doctorate award ceremony took place on June 21, 2018 , in the large amphitheater of the Sorbonne and was hosted by the PSL Orchestra and Choir. You can read more about this award here.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsDr. Edith Sullivan received the RSA Henri Begleiter Excellence in Research Award June 26, 2019 Dr. Edith Sullivan received the 13th Annual RSA Henri Begleiter Excellence in Research Award. This award is given to an individual demonstrating innovation or creativity and excellence in their research and/or someone whose work has a major impact on the field.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsResearch Highlight: INIA-N affiliate, Emma Erickson, featured in Neuropsychopharmacology July 23, 2020 Emma Erickson, a recent graduate of Adron Harris’ laboratory, published a paper in Neuropsychopharmacology that was featured in a Research Highlight article in the same issue. Erickson’s paper examines the role of cortical astrocytes in alcohol-related behaviors in mice. Through bidirectional targeting of astrocyte-specific calcium signaling in vivo, the work uncovers astrocytic involvement in alcohol consumption and intoxication. The commentary, written by Jeffrey Moffat and Dorit Ron of UCSF, notes the significance of determining glial contributions to the behavioral effects of alcohol. Erickson, E.K., DaCosta, A.J., Mason, S.C. et al. Cortical astrocytes regulate ethanol consumption and intoxication in mice. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2020). Moffat, J.J., Ron, D. Astrocytes and alcohol: cortical astrocytes regulate alcohol consumption and intoxication. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2020).
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsINIA-N research featured at the Scripps Research Institute and The University of Texas at Austin July 23, 2020 INIA-N researchers reveal the Brain’s Immune Cells are a Central Driver of Alcohol Use Disorder. The multifaceted approach is the first to link microglia to the molecular, cellular, and behavioral changes associated with the development of alcohol dependence, suggesting that microglia may also be critical for the development and progression of alcohol use disorder. Read more in the press release from Scripps Research and The University of Texas.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsDr. Robert Messing awarded RSA’s 2021 Distinguished Researcher Award March 29, 2021 Dr. Robert Messing has been awarded RSA’s 2021 DISTINGUISHED RESEARCHER AWARD! This award recognizes a senior researcher who has made outstanding scientific contributions to the alcohol field, has demonstrated a sustained long-term commitment to conducting alcohol research, and has a substantial record of publication in the field. Dr. Messing was selected from the nominations received and then voted on by the RSA Awards Committee
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsDr. Amy Lasek joined Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) August 1, 2022 Dr. Amy Lasek joined Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She will lead her alcohol research program in her lab at VCU and interact extensively with alcohol researchers in the NIAAA-funded VCU Alcohol Research Center.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsDr. Nihal Salem is honored with the ESBRA Young Investigator Award September 8, 2022 Dr. Nihal Salem received the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA) Young Investigator Award (2022) at the 14th Congress of ESBRA (September 8th – 11th 2013) Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Salem is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mayfield lab at the Waggoner Center for Alcohol & Addiction Research. Her current work focuses on utilizing single cell and spatial transcriptomics to identify molecular mechanisms mediating escalation of alcohol consumption and using drug repurposing to identify therapeutics that reverse this escalation.
May 12, 2025, Filed Under: NewsResearch Highlight: Drs. Regina Mangieri and Angela Ozburn’s publication highlighted in Nature News February 6, 2023 Drs. Regina Mangieri and Angela Ozburn co-publishes with other members of the INIA consortia in the Journal of Clinical Investigations. The research article, entitled “Pre-clinical and clinical evidence for suppression of alcohol intake by apremilast”, provides evidence that Apremilast, a medication originally by the FDA to treat the skin disease psoriasis, can also reduce excessive alcohol consumption in people who drink excessively by inhibiting an enzyme that is linked to alcohol dependence. Because of these collaborative efforts, NIAAA is exploring the possibility of performing clinical trials for apremilast as a potential therapeutic for Alcohol Use Disorder. Grigsby KB, Mangieri RA, Roberts AJ, Lopez MF, Firsick EJ, Townsley KG, Beneze A, Bess J, Eisenstein TK, Meissler JJ, Light JM, Miller J, Quello S, Shadan F, Skinner MH, Aziz HC, Metten P, Morissett RA, Crabbe JC, Roberto M, Becker HC, Mason BJ, Ozburn AR. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence for suppression of alcohol intake by apremilast.J Clin Invest. 2023 Jan 19:e159103. doi:10.1172/JCI159103 Click here, or the link below to see a Nature News research highlight on the publication. 020123_naturenews_pill-for-a-skin-disease-also-curbs-excessive-drinking.pdf The Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) Neuroimmune consortium was funded February 1, 2017 by NIH/NIAAA to identify the molecular, cellular, and behavioral neuroadaptations that occur in specific brain neurocircuitries that result in excessive alcohol consumption. This international, multidisciplinary initiative, has 10 projects that focus on the molecular and cellular neuroadaptations in brain addiction circuits with the goal of discovering therapeutic approaches that correct the damaging perturbations of these circuit components.
