VOLUME 12, NUMBER 17 • MARCH 9, 2001Symposium to Explore Drug Abuse and Addiction Why does the use of heroin, cocaine and alcohol lead to life-threatening dependency in some people, while others never become addicted? And why do some people succeed in treatment, while others continue to relapse? Centennial Lecture
On Thurs., March 29, Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will present a special Centennial Lecture on Science and Society entitled "Bringing the Power of Science to Bear on Drug Abuse and Addiction." Exploring how genetic research and new brain-scanning technologies are shedding light on risk factors, Leshner also will discuss the changes that result from short- and long-term drug abuse, and describe how this new understanding will have an impact on the future of treatment and prevention. Symposium On Fri., March 30, six leaders in the field of addiction re-search will present an overview of the latest scientific findings on cocaine, opiate and alcohol addiction in a symposium entitled "The Biology of Drug Abuse and Addiction: More Tangled Than Traffic."
The modern field of addiction research was launched at The Rockefeller University Hospital in the 1960s, when then-Professor Vincent Dole began testing methadone as a treatment for heroin dependency. Today, many of Dole’s ideas serve as the foundation for research on drug addiction in laboratories around the world. At Rockefeller, cutting-edge research on addiction continues under the leadership of one of Dole’s former colleagues, Mary Jeanne Kreek, who heads the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases and directs a major interdisciplinary center at Rockefeller funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition to Kreek, speakers at the symposium include Enoch Gordis, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH; Nora Volkow, associate director for life sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Charles O’Brien, chief of psychiatry, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania; Eric J. Nestler, Lou and Ellen McGinley Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; and Chris Evans, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gordis’s principal goals as a physician and director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) are to establish the Institute and alcohol research as leaders in science and medicine and to facilitate the use of alcohol research findings to improve prevention and treatment. Prior to becoming director of the NIAAA in 1986, Gordis spent 10 years at The Rockefeller University in the Dole laboratory, founded and directed one of New York City’s largest and most comprehensive alcoholism treatment programs at Elmurst Hospital and served as professor clinical medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Nora Volkow uses positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate the biochemical changes in the brain associated with drug addiction, alcoholism and aging. Her studies include research on Ritalin and cocaine, which are chemically similar, and their pathways and functioning in the brain. Volkow is focused on finding an effective pharmacological treatment of addiction, and her research could also aid in finding avenues for delaying and counteracting the deleterious effects of aging. Charles O’Brien’s research group has been responsible for documenting the relationship between opioid agonists and alcohol addiction. Drugs such as naltrexone have been developed and approved as treatment as a result of this work. O’Brien’s interest in the pharmacology of addiction is always coupled with the development of new behavioral therapies that constitute a full psychopharmacological approach. Eric J. Nestler studies the molecular adaptations induced in the brain after chronic administration of opiates, cocaine and other drugs. One of his goals is to more completely identify and characterize such adaptations and to relate specific adaptations to drug-induced alterations in neuronal function that define an addicted state. Nestler utilizes methods of viral-mediated gene transfer and genetic mutations in mice to establish causal relationships among molecular, cellular and behavioral levels of analysis. Chris Evans led one of two teams that concurrently cloned the delta opioid receptor by functional expression in 1992. This accomplishment enabled the molecular characterization of the family of opioid receptors and helped to elucidate the mechanisms by which drugs interact with the opioid receptors in the brain. In ongoing research Evans uses immunochemical techniques in cell lines and in rats to further characterize the properties of the opioid receptor family with the goal of refining treatments and minimizing side effects associated with the opioid class of drugs. Symposium Schedule for Fri., March 30 Morning Session on Ethanol Addiction Biology and Treatment 9:30 a.m. — 10:20 a.m. 10:20 a.m. — 11:10 a.m. 11:10 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. 12:00 noon — 2:00 p.m. Afternoon Session on Cocaine and Opiate Addiction Biology and Treatment 2:00 p.m. — 2:50 p.m. 2:50 p.m. — 3:40 p.m. 3:40 p.m. — 4:10 p.m. 4:10 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. |
||||
About Rockefeller University | Hospital & Clinical Studies | Administration & Services | Employment at RU | RU Directory
Calendar of Events | Contact Us