Researchers will use funding to further research on cocaine dependence
By delivering an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to drug abuse and addiction research, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has been renewed as a "Center of Excellence" by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The designation comes with a five-year, $11 million grant that will be used to further studies led by researchers and clinicians in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, part of UTHealth.
Research at UTHealth's Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction (CNRA) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort in behavioral laboratory, brain imaging and outpatient clinical trials, said F. Gerard Moeller, M.D., UTHealth professor of psychiatry and director of the CNRA.
"We are using novel medications, imaging methodologies and clinical trial designs that will provide a greater understanding of the behavioral neurobiology of cocaine dependence and translate this knowledge into effective pharmacotherapies for the disorder," Moeller said.
Major accomplishments of the NIDA-funded research at the CNRA over the last 10 years have included:
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