Bulletin Board

Deadline Approaching: U.S.-Mexico Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship

Researchers interested in applying for the NIDA U.S.-Mexico Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship need to submit application materials by April 1, 2013. The Fellowship provides researchers who are citizens or permanent residents of Mexico with a year of postdoctoral training in the United States. Fellows are mentored by NIDA-supported grantees at U.S. institutions, joining a network of international scientists conducting drug abuse research globally. The first Fellowship was awarded in 2012 to Dr. Argentina Elisa N. Servin Aguirre, a physician trained in preventive medicine, infectious

Dr. Charles O’Brien Receives the James B. Isaacson Award for Lifetime Achievement

In September 2012, NIDA researcher Dr. Charles O’Brien received the James B. Isaacson Award from the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. This honor is the latest in a string of international awards Dr. O’Brien has received for a lifetime of research on the biological basis of alcoholism. Ground-Breaking Work With Naltrexone One of Dr. O’Brien’s major achievements was finding that naltrexone, originally developed to treat heroin addiction, was effective in treating alcoholism. In 1983, Dr. O’Brien and his colleagues first postulated that alcohol stimulates the release

PhenX Toolkit Provides Standard Measures for Research

NIDA researchers working with human subjects now have a new resource at their fingertips: the PhenX Toolkit’s new Substance Abuse and Addiction (SAA) collection. The Toolkit—a collaboration between NIDA, RTI International, the National Human Genome Research Institute, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research—is designed to provide standardized measures, vetted and approved by the field, to help researchers compare and combine data from multiple studies. Recently, NIDA teamed up with RTI to identify specific sets of SAA measures for NIDA investigators. This yielded first- and

Dr. David Jentsch Receives the 2011 Waletzky Memorial Award

Dr. J. David Jentsch, professor in the Departments of Psychology-Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the recipient of the 2011 Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award for Innovative Research in Drug Addiction and Alcoholism. He accepted the award and delivered the keynote lecture, "Reward Interrupted: Inhibitory Control and Its Relationship to Addictions," at NIDA's Frontiers in Addiction Research miniconference in Washington, D.C., on November 11, 2011. Dr. Jentsch seeks to understand the biological influences affecting

Neuroscience Education Program Encourages Learning at All Ages

Eight new grants administered by NIDA aim to channel students' natural fascination with their behavior and their brains into appreciation and enthusiasm for neuroscience. Grantees are developing K-12 education programs that will engage young people in learning about the brain, inspire some to pursue careers in biomedical science, and increase teacher knowledge of neuroscience. The 5-year grants are funded by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Science Education, a cooperative effort among the 16 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices that support neuroscience research and the Science

NIDA Announces Avant-Garde Medication Development Awards

Two scientists who are developing vaccines to treat addiction are the recipients of NIDA’s 2011 Avant-Garde Awards for Innovative Medication Development Research. Dr. Thomas Kosten of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and Dr. Peter Burkhard of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, will each receive $500,000 per year for 5 years to support their research. Dr. Kosten and colleagues are developing a vaccine against methamphetamine abuse; Dr. Burkhard and colleagues, a vaccine to counter nicotine addiction. Both projects will include animal research and initial clinical trials to test the

Good-Bye, Paper

Starting in early 2012, after 25 years in print, NIDA Notes will become exclusively a Web publication. In its dynamic new format, NIDA Notes will continue to provide the same highly readable and authoritative coverage of NIDA-supported research that you enjoy now, Plus More content and frequent posting of fresh articles for timely coverage of new developments in addiction science Social networking tools, including special-topic feeds and buttons for sharing articles with friends and colleagues Enhanced graphics, easy searching and linking, a glossary, interactive features, and more Subscribers

NIDA Recognizes Developer of a New Business Model for Science

Dr. Redonna K. Chandler, chief of NIDA's Services Research Branch in the Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, is the recipient of the Institute's 2011 Innovator Award. Dr. Chandler recognized that independent research projects within the Seek, Test, and Treat in Criminal Justice Populations initiative focused on HIV would yield more information if their findings could be examined as a whole. She envisioned an integrated dataset and developed a collaborative method with NIDA-funded researchers to achieve such a resource. The Institute is now replicating the process with

Week-Long Events Teach Teens Drug Abuse Facts

Daevion Caves and Jordan Atkins won first place in the Awareness Through Music Contest With NIDA's encouragement and support, local communities and organizations in more than 20 States sponsored events to educate teenagers about drugs and drug abuse during the Institute's first annual National Drug Facts Week, held November 8-14. NIDA's outreach efforts helped spark more than 90 community-based events, including town meetings, symposia, Web activities, TV programs, and contests. Sponsors included schools, community groups, sports clubs, book clubs, and local hospitals. NIDA provided an online

NIDA Cosponsors Mentoring Service for Clinicians Advising Substance-Abusing Patients

With a free phone call or email, primary care clinicians can tap a mentor for help with a sensitive subject: how to address alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse among patients. The mentor—an expert in primary care and addiction medicine—advises on screening, brief interventions, and treatment in primary care settings. This service, Physician Clinical Support System for Primary Care (PCSS-P), also offers resources to registered participants for incorporating screening and followup into regular patient care. PCSS-P is a project of NIDA and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). The free

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