This December marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Over the past five decades, NIAAA-funded researchers have made tremendous progress in advancing the understanding of how alcohol impacts health. NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D., comments, “While we have much more work to do, today … Read more
People with a genetic variant of a neurotransmitter gene may have an increased risk of addiction to alcohol and other substances later in life if they were exposed to childhood stress, such as divorce or emotionally distant parents, and other adverse experiences, according to recent research. The study led by researchers at the University of … Read more
A new study led by researchers at the National Institute and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), identifies regions of the rat genome that are associated with a behavior that is highly predictive of addiction onset and progression. The region in the rat genome with the strongest association … Read more
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common, heterogeneous disorder, and this heterogeneity drives the need for precision treatment. In a recent study, investigators at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) led by Laura E. Kwako, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist in NIAAA’s Office of the Clinical Director, tested the hypothesis that neurofunctional domains … Read more
Recent studies have highlighted the potential of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as an innovative, safe, and cost-effective treatment for alcohol and other substance use disorders. A new review article by Antonello Bonci, M.D., of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), with Lorenzo Leggio, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism … Read more