TREATMENT OF AUD; ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE

SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

Alcohool addiction

I will start soon my activities in an Alcohool Addcition Laboratory. It is worthy to say, that my research will be guided by one of the speakers.

I am currently a fourth year PhD student in the Addiction Neuroscience Graduate Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis where I am co-mentored by Drs. Christopher Lapish and Nicholas Grahame. I have a strong interest in understanding the physiological phenomena that underlie behavior. Specifically, I am interested in studying the neurobiological causes of and identifying novel treatments for addiction. To date, my graduate research has pursued this goal through the following projects: (1) Identifying changes in corticostriatal theta as a result of repeated binge drinking (master’s thesis project), (2) Using within-session binge drinking patterns to assess reaction to reward loss in replicate lines of high-alcohol-preferring (HAP) mice, (3) Identifying the relationship between genetic risk for AUD and behavioral flexibility, and (4) targeting α2-adrenoceptors to decrease alcohol intake in HAP mice. In summary, my research focus lies at the intersection of behavioral genetics, pharmacology, and awake-behaving electrophysiology using rodent models of alcohol addiction.

I am interested in participating in these seminars to further my understanding of addiction and how it can be most effectively studied. I am also interested in networking with others in this field of research.

My work is focus on the comorbidities between binge drinking (BD), a risk factor for alcohol use disorder (AUD), and chronic pain conditions. Indeed, AUD patients report higher rates of chronic pain conditions, and are more likely to develop peripheral neuropathies due to the alcohol neurotoxicity. On the other hand, patients with chronic pain conditions often use alcohol as a pain reliever, and therefore are more at risk to developed AUD. BD seems particularly ineresting for us as it is widely present in the population, and especially in youth, where it could results in long term disabilities, so it could be of particular interest to prevent it. We are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in these paterns. According to the literature on this field, we have hypothesized that BD can induces neuroinflammatory responses in the brain responsible for altered behavioral pattern, especially on nociception. As the link between these pathologies are not clear, we suppose that the contrary can also be true, with chronic pain conditions leading to neuroinflammation in the brain, responsible for an increase alcohol consumption.

As I recently started my Phd which is focused on binge drinking, a risk factor for the development of alcohol use disorder, it is of particular interest for me to learn more about the alcohol addiction field. It could also be a good opportunity to discuss about our mice binge drinking model with specialist on this field. This online congress could made me develop my working hypothesis, by developping my knowledges on cognitive impairments due to alcoholism.

The focus of my research is the investigation of the neurobiological basis of addictions. The primary goals of my research are I] the determination of neural processes that underlie addictive behavior, II] the identification of neural biomarkers that predict treatment outcome and III] the development of novel neuroscience-based treatment approaches. To achieve these goals, I combine innovative multimodal functional, pharmacological and molecular neuroimaging tools with the assessment of genetic, neuroendocrine and psychometric data and adaptive machine learning models. Multi-modal neuroimaging offers a unique platform for detecting the neural and molecular basis of clinically relevant disease mechanisms, for validating the identified mechanisms via pharmacological interventions and for assessing efficacy of new treatment approaches. Adaptive machine learning offers great potential to integrate multi-modal neuroimaging and clinical data to capture the complexity of addictive behaviors and refine the prediction of clinical outcomes and novel treatment approaches.

Having just started my post-doc research career, I seek to expand my knowledge on alcohol research, especially to preclinical and translational aspects, as well as deepen my understanding on the investigation of the neurobiological basis of alcoholism. The fall e-school seems to provide an exceptional platform to achieve these goals. Being given the chance to interact with leaders of the field and other young researchers is a great opportunity to expand my research skills (and focus) and get in touch with young international addiction researchers, which I hope might aid to form new international collaborations. The stimulating atmosphere and exchange with other international researchers is a great motivation for me to apply for participating in the e-school. I would like to thank the organizing committee very much for considering my application.

Severe alcohol use disorders (severe AUD) are characterized by an estimated 50% relapse rate and a high risk of mortality. Therefore, a better understanding of relapse in the AUD is a critical concern for public health policy. The main purpose of this study is to determine whether a poor ability to feel empathy towards others and to recognize the expression of pain may lead to difficulties in learning about the negative experience of others in response to certain situations, i.e., vicarious or observational learning, increases the risks of relapse in these patients.

My research topic is Alcohol Use Disorder but my knowledge concern specifically social factors and social cognition in AUD.
These different presentations will allow me to broaden my knowledge about this disorder in different fields.

My degree will be in Addiction Neuroscience. My primary work is in the neurobiology of alcohol.

I want to learn as much as I can about alcohol and alcohol use disorder. I also am interested in networking with professionals in this field.

I study how stress influences addiction and health behaviors. I am currently working on a study assessing how parents of toddlers use of alcohol to cope with stress may associated with maladaptive coping mechanisms among their children, placing them at greater risk of substance and alcohol misuse as teens and young adults. We follow the parents through a 12-week mindfulness-based parenting intervention and 2-year follow-up period to track stress, coping, parenting behaviors, child behaviors, and parent alcohol use.

I would like to participate in the Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research to keep up to date in the latest direction in alcohol research and treatment. My prior research training was in polysubstance use and illicit drugs, and I am now interested in receiving new training in alcohol use and alcoholism. This workshop series features the leaders in the field of alcohol research presenting the latest developments and advancements in prevention and treatment. By attending this workshop, I hope to gain inspiration for future studies as I transition into an independent investigator role. I also hope to meet potential collaborators and peers that work in similar research areas.

My PhD project explores the role of stress in the development of alcohol dependence. Stress has long been proposed as an important correlate of uncontrolled alcohol drinking and relapse. I investigated the effect of glucocorticoid receptor antagonism on alcohol self-administration in Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-prefering (msP) rats, a rat line genetically selected for high ethanol preference and intake. Additionally, since early life environmental factors increase the susceptibility to the onset of psychiatric disorders, I investigated the effect of postnatal stress and maternal separation on the development of alcoholism in adolescence and adulthood.
I also took part on a side project focused on the study of psychedelics drugs as a potential therapy for alcoholism.

I hope to get the opportunity to attend the Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research. My current research project is mainly focused on the study of alcohol use disorder and the partecipation at this school will give me the opportunity to gain further knolwledge on this topic. I would like to be upgraded about the latest findings on alcoholism research and to be inspired by the experts of this field.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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Environmental contexts previously associated with drug use often provoke relapse to drug use in humans and reinstatement of drug seeking in laboratory animals. The amygdala is considered as the primary region for encoding both aversive and appetitive conditioned stimulus information in conditioned learning. Correlational data suggests that learned associations are encoded within sparsely distributed patterns of neurons called neuronal ensembles that are selectively activated during learned behaviors. Based on these considerations, we combine some methodologies (c-fos-lacZ transgenic/Daun02 inactivation and FACS – flow cytometry and fluorescence-activated cell sorting – of activated Fos-expressing neurons), to investigate the causal role of basolateral amygdala neuronal ensembles in context-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking.

First, let me introduce myself, my name is Paula Cristina Bianchi. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) (São Paulo, SP, Brazil), under supervision of Professor Fábio Cardoso Cruz. I am sure that “Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research” will be a great opportunity to improve my knowledge on alcohol addiction research, learn from experts about new approaches that could be use in my research, besides make contact with specialists in this area, expanding the possibility of scientific partnerships. Furthermore, all knowledge acquired will certainly be share with my research group and colleagues of the department.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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Quality of Life in Individual with Substance Use Disordes and Alcohol Use Disorders. The first one study performed in Albania,in thistopic

I am a young MD dealing with Addiction field in Albania. Alcohool Use disorder is the main topic of my everyday work. I am always eager to learn and this school would really help me and my patients. I would really apprecciate if you would consider my application.
Kind Regards
Sonila

The exploration of attentional biases towards alcohol-related stimuli in patients with alcohol use disorder or subclinical populations such as binge drinkers, by combining behavioral paradigms with eye-tracking measures.

To learn more about my field of research, especially regarding the current state of the art concerning the cognitive processes involved in alcohol use disorder and the available experimental tools to use in this clinical population.

Title: Harnessing wearable devices with transdermal alcohol sensor for clinical and public health use.

This project will examine how an alcohol transdermal device can be used effectively in alcohol treatment. It will use data from volunteer and clinical populations to understand the feasibility and practicality of the digital technology. The data collected will inform our understanding of patient’s patterns of use, engagement with the sensor, treatment needs and clinical outcomes. The first two proposed projects would inform the third project where it can be assessed if the device does have clinical utility to be used as part of an intervention.

I am a student at King’s College London, within the Addictions Department. I started my PhD in October 2020 and am about to start my second year. I would like to attend because my interest is in alcohol research and treatment, and wish to expand my knowledge and have the opportunity to discuss with leaders in the alcohol addiction field. Before my PhD, I worked as a Research Assistant on a large RCT across England exploring the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and feasibility of psycho-social interventions with patients currently prescribed Acamprosate as part of their recovery plan. From this I was able to interact with a lot of individuals who are the direct benefits from alcohol research and discuss the importance of this research. This need has been amplified in the last year with covid restricting face-to-face work, which is why my PhD looking at utilising digital technology in alcohol treatment could be a novel method to overcome such a problem.

Dear organization committee of the Fall e-school of Alcohol Addiction Research,
my Name is Katharina Burger and hereby I would like to state my motivation to attend the Fall e-school from October 25th-29th. I am in my first year as a PhD Student at the University of Vienna, Department of Nutritional Sciences in the working group Molecular Nutritional Science. My research interest lies in the field of molecular mechanisms involved in the development of metabolic liver diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but also alcoholic liver disease (ALD) as well as the development of new nutrition-based prevention and therapeutic approaches. Especially the main research focus lies in the regulation of the enzyme alcoholdehydrogenase, the main alcohol metabolizing enzyme in the liver, as well as the intestinal barrier and its changes during the development of both metabolic liver diseases.

Since my master thesis, which I wrote about alcohol metabolism and its role in the development of metabolic liver diseases, I am really interested in topics like alcohol-related liver diseases and alcohol addiction. I have been continued this research for my PhD with focus on the regulation of enzymes relevant in the alcohol metabolism. So the conference theme is especially relevant to my research field and could give me the opportunity as a young researcher to expand my knowledge as well as meet and hear from absolute experts on this topics.
Thank you in advance,
Kind regards
Katharina Burger

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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Nucleus accumbens circuitry changes after ethanol drinking in a mouse model of binge-like intake.

I am new to the alcohol addiction field and want to bolster my background knowledge and have a better understanding of current research in the field.

1. Autophagy regulation in alcoholic liver disease
2. Iron metabolism in alcoholic liver disease

Dear Madam/ Sir,

I am Cheng Chen, I am working as a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Alcohol Research (CAR), Heidelberg University, Germany. For the passing 6 years, I am keeping focusing on fatty liver diseases. And especially, I am working on alcoholic liver disease research in recent three years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I lost various underlying opportunities to communicate with and learn from other outstanding professors and excellent peers working in the alcohol research area. I am extremely excited to hear about this valuable chance to get access to the professional experience and great accumulation, and I am also eager to participate in this e-school. I recently submitted a paper, which topic is about the ‘ROS mediated autophagy regulation in ALD’. This small achievement drives me to go deep into alcohol metabolism and learn more about ALD. I will appreciate your taking my application into careful consideration and looking forward to hearing from your side soon!

Best wishes,
Cheng Chen

My research activity is focused on neuropsychological consequences (cognitive, emotional and behavioural) of alcohol intake. As part of my thesis, I participate in a case-control study to define the neuropsychological profile of adults with alcohol use disorder, after heavy episodic drinking or binge drinking during their adolescence and early-adulthood

My motivation for participing in this e-School is to learn more about alcoholism, its consequences and what kind of interventions have shown clinical and research effectiveness. All this knowledge would nurture my thesis and my research as a PhD student, and of course my practice as a health psychologist.

My PhD project was focused on the influence of alcohol on the visual system and the implications of visuo-perceptive disturbances for patients with Severe Alcohol Use Disorder’s emotional decoding abilities.

This is a great opportunity to listen to renowned scientists in the field and expand my knowlege on alcohol addiction. I have mainly adopted a neuropsychological approach but I am very curious about other ways to explore this pathology.

My research explores the extent to which trauma, smoking, and culture impacts drinking and quality of life outcomes among Alaska Native (AN) people. Namely, I aim (1) to examine predictors of alcohol use and moderators of naltrexone treatment effects among AN people, and I aim (2) to examine the impact of drinking on the efficacy of two culturally tailored interventions targeting modifiable risks for cardiovascular health and the effects of these intervention on drinking among AN people. Resultant data from these aims have the potential to identify the nature and impacts of factors associated with alcohol use, treatment, and outcomes among AN people, which is of great public health importance. Additionally, the results of my research have implications for developing trauma-informed, culturally derived, multilevel alcohol treatment interventions for AN people.

As a member of an Alaska Native (AN) tribe, I have seen the desire of elders and youth alike to gather knowledge and wisdom that will inform physical and psychological health to address alcohol problems from a scientifically-grounded and holistically-minded approach. In Alaska, AN peoples experience disproportionately higher rates of alcohol problems and related mortality and are further impacted by lack of resources, underfunded prevention initiatives and efforts, and barriers to treatment. I am committed to addressing these issues, fostering equity and equality in practice and programs, and utilizing evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence for alcohol misuse prevention, intervention, and treatment. Thus, these presentations are beneficial and formative to my knowledge at this stage of my career and influential to my thinking as a current alcohol researcher.

Investigation of the role of environmental (especially stress and sleep dysregulation) and genetical factors (using outbred rats) involved in alcohol use and abuse.

My motivation to apply to the fall e-school of Alcohol Addiction Research lies in the chance to take part in a training experience which will grant me the necessary time, conditions and focus to train my knowledge in the domain of disorders related to alcohol. Since I am at the second year of my Ph.D course and my Ph.D project is strongly related to the topic of this fall e-school, I would like to be inspired by new ideas and insights. I would also like to have the the opportunity to meet the masters of the alcohol addiction field despite the diffult period we are going through.

Students, precarity and alcohol misuse, evolution from 1995 to 2019 (french data from the Baromètre santé, Santé Publique France)
The main hypothesis is that precarity and alcohol misuse are closely related over the years in the students’ population. We want to see the evolution of these two parameters from 1995 to 2019 to put what has been observed during the coronavirus pandemic (increase of alcohol consumption in this population) in context.

I’m a intern in psychiatry (4th year) in Lyon, and passed the certificate two years ago to be a specialist in the addiction fields.
Next year I will pass the second year of my Master’s degree, with a research project on French students, precarity and alcohol misuse (evolution from 1995 to 2019). Data will be extracted from the Baromètres Santé (Santé Publique France) and we want to perform time series analyses to establish the link between those three items. Participating your e-School program would give me the opportunity to improve my knowledge in alcohol Addiction Research, which would lead to a better understanding of the subjects I’m interested in (especially alcohol, young adults and prevention). This would also guide and enrich my hypotheses in these research fields.

As a senior neuroscientist working for about thirty years in the field of epilepsy, I have been mainly interested in the involvement of the basal ganglia system in the control of epileptic seizures. More recently, we have shown a major defect in the dynamics of the dopaminergic system in connection with an overexpression of dopaminergic D3 receptors during epileptogenesis in a model of epilepsy-absence in the rat (Cavarec et al., 2019).
Since January 2021, I joined Sébastien CARNICELLA’s team where I am pursuing my interest in research on the dopaminergic system in connection with the nigrostriatal system in motivated behaviors and alcohol addiction. Actual research investigates the neurobiological mechanisms underlying vulnerability to addictive-like behavior in rats that voluntary drink alcohol with a binge-drinking-like pattern.

– Recommendation by Sebastien CARNICELLA, to take part in this course to acquire more knowledge about alcohol addiction research
– also my own interest about this topic, being involved in a project aimed at deciphering the the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the vulnerability to develop binge drinking and alcohol addiction using a DREAADs approach (project coordinated by Prof Mickael NAASSILA)

Binge drinking is characterized by excessive consumption of ethanol (EtOH) in a short period of time leading to drunkenness, blackouts or even coma. In humans, repeated binge drinking episodes during adolescence impair brain function and especially learning and memory. However, less is known about the mechanisms of the very first EtOH exposures, which have been shown to impair learning and glutamatergic synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus for several days. These early binges can thus represent gateway to further alcohol abuse and alcohol use disorder and my thesis project focuses on highlighting the mecanisms involved in the effets of only 2 EtOH binge episodes on learning and synaptic plasticity with particular attention to neuroinflammatory and epigenetic mechanisms.

This meeting offers the opportunity to meet and interact with young investigators in a common research field.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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My research is centered on investigating the neural circuits underlying negative affect in alcohol. I am particularly interested in the role of the parasubthalamic nucleus (PSTN) in driving negative affect during withdrawal with its activity hypothesized to influence interoceptive signals of sickness, anxiety, and stress. My projects uses chemogenetics, optical methods, and transgenic mouse models to selectively manipulate somas within the PSTN its connections to other brain regions known to be involved in behaviors related to alcohol use (e.g. CeA, BNST, PBN, Insula).

This workshop is a perfect opportunity for me to further familiarize myself in the alcohol field. My dissertation work at the University of Wyoming focused on sensorimotor integration and behavior in songbirds and my first postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University focused on the role of arrestin proteins and G protein signaling in mouse models of Parkinson’s Disease and addiction models of cocaine and amphetamine. My scientific interests and passions lie in the generation of behaviors and the experiences and sensory input that drive those behaviors. Alcohol-use disorders are one of the most prevalent maladaptive behaviors in the human population, and therefore understanding the neural under pinnings of AUDs is an important unmet medical need. Participation in this training will provide important foundation for my knowledge in what we currently know about AUDs and assist me in developing novel research projects addressing the field.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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Delayed gratification/aversion discounting in alcohol addiction.

Learning more about alcohol addiction from the experts is of high importance to me as it is the core of my research topic.

The aim of my PhD is to study the role of intestinal microbiota in patients with Acute Alcoholic Hepatitis (AAH). Literature data show that the inflammation of the liver is partly triggered by intestinal dysbiosis, that is an imbalance of the microbial communities in the gut. There is only one approved treatment for AAH : corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs. However, a third of these patients do not respond to corticosteroids, and these drugs may conduct patients to death. The first goal of my PhD is to figure out whether intestinal microbiota can be used as a predictive tool regarding the response of the patients to corticosteroids, allowing a better using of these drugs. Moreover, I will study the effect of Faecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) on the intestinal microbiota of patients included in a clinical trial of first phase. Indeed, recent studies suggest FMT can be an effective way to treat AAH since it may restrain liver inflammation by restablishing a healthy gut microbiota. Finally, I will develop a murine model of AAH to study the immunomodulatory properties of FMT, and to understand the mechanisms involved in the resistance to corticotherapy.

Since I am a 1st-year PhD student in the field of alcohol addiction, this e-School will provide me valuable knowledge on up-to-date research on alcohol addiction. Furthermore, it will be an exceptional opportunity to get to know leading figures of my research field.

My actual subject of research is the prevalence, risk, and protective factors of alcohol use and alcohol evidence-based interventions in specific populations such as people with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD. My other interest is in the changes in the delivery of alcohol treatment during the pandemic. The need to be socially distanced had a negative impact on vulnerable populations such as people with addictions. Understanding how to improve the delivery of evidence-based interventions in this period is an additional challenge to achieve. Finally, I am working on a project with the aim to test the effectiveness of a school-based intervention in improving psychological well-being and prevent alcohol use and binge drinking among young adolescents. I had already conducted a cluster randomized control trial in four Italian schools and I am analyzing the data.

I am really involved in this topic since the collection of data about binge drinking in young adolescents for my master’s thesis. My research group and I have found interesting results about the association between impairments in psychological well-being and binge drinking. From this data, we decided to implement an intervention, based on Well-Being Therapy (Fava, 2016), to prevent and reduce this phenomenon in youth. I had the privilege of conducting the surveys and then the intervention in schools. At the moment, I am collaborating with the IoPPN in King’s College London with the opportunity to improve my skills and knowledge about this difficult but fascinating topic. International data showed us that fundings in mental health and especially in the addiction field, are decreasing over time, that the expertise in the addiction field is less than necessary, but that alcohol and drug use are increasing. I would want to be a part of this team of experts, improving my expertise every day. I really hope that you could give me the possibility to attend your amazing event to improve my knowledge with important researchers and professors. Thank you for your attention.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

Early-onset of alcohol use, as well as chronic exposure to stress during childhood, are vulnerability factors highly associated with the development of alcohol dependence. In the dorsal striatum, which plays a crucial role in goal-directed behaviors and habit formation process, endocannabinoids present an important modulatory function through their action on CB1 receptors. These receptors are present, among other sites, in medium spiny neurons that express D1 (D1 MSNs), neuronal cells widely involved in responses to drugs of abuse and stress. Likewise, eCB signaling via CB1 receptors has been implicated in responses to alcohol and stress. Therefore, we propose to evaluate, in male and female adolescent mice, the effects of maternal separation on voluntary alcohol intake, neuronal activation levels, and CB1 receptors expression in brain areas associated with reward pathways, and in striatal D1 MSNs. Furthermore, we will investigate the involvement of CB1 receptors in the modulation of neural circuits (focus on D1 MSNs) involved in responses to maternal separation stress and alcohol intake.

I am writing to express my profound interest in enrolling in the Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research. I have been involved with Neuroscience research since 2014, developing preclinical research projects. The opportunity to enroll in the e-school will benefit me on many levels since it will provide me the chance to interact with students and professors, learn from brilliant neuroscientists, discuss science, and further explore and refine my studies based on theoretical learning acquired during the school. I will certainly gain a broader perspective on concepts, treatments, and animal models used in the study of alcohol dependence. I will better understand the consequences of alcohol abuse/dependence on cognition, gut microbiota, and liver function. In addition, I will improve my knowledge about the influence of the environment on alcohol dependence, which is of particular interest to me as I work with the effects of early-life stress on alcohol intake in adolescent mice. This experience will be an excellent platform to develop and establish myself as a neuroscientist and gain new insights into potential research interests. I would also be in an excellent place to network with researchers and have the chance to constitute future scientific collaborations.

Alcohol modifies the function of brain regions related to decision-making, such as the Basal Ganglia. My actual subject of research is understanding how ethanol affects the dorsal striatum subregions, a central nucleus of the Basal Ganglia, and the impact on this region’s efferent neurons. Specifically, most studies have focused on striatal direct pathway projections to the Substantia Nigra pars reticulata (SNr), but these neurons also send collateral projections to the target region of the indirect pathway, the Globus Pallidus (GP). My goal is to evaluate ethanol’s impact on the striatum subregions and the direct pathways to SNr and GP associated with decision-making bahaviour. For this, I use transgenic mice, immunofluorescence staining of Fos expression, slice photometry, and also evaluate the behavioral consequences of ethanol’s in vitro effects by artificially mimicking them with chemoreceptors (DREADDs).

I believe this e-school will make a difference in my research and academic career. Alcohol addiction has been my subject of research for the past years and now, as a PhD student, it is crucial to keep always updated and in contact with important investigators in alcohol addiction research. With this school, I am sure I will learn from the best researchers in the field. I hope I can join you in October, it is going to be a pleasure to hear from the speakers.

A qualitative study exploring the role of social networks in alcohol dependence. I explore what relationships and support people who frequently attend hospital for alcohol related reasons have, and the meaning participants attach to their social network. I plan to consider the impact of mental and physical health on the relationship between drinking and social networks, and explore two major themes of loneliness and connection. Finally I aim to make recommendations for social network interventions according to participant’s needs and preferences.

To connect with the wider literature on alcohol dependence, and to get to know my peers and other senior researchers in my field.

Alcoholic liver disease, including screenibg of ALD in general population, Alcoholic hepatitis and for future research- microbiotica and alcoholic liver disease.

My first choice for PhD research was alcoholic liver disease, I am envolved in clinical research, I want to learn more, to develop myself and I am open to new opportunities. I think this course would be very useful in my future development as a researcher.

Sexual dimorphism of insular cortex function in alcohol use disorders and anxiety disorders

I am particularly interested in alcohol addiction and this workshop is a great opportunity to deepen my knowledge in this field. Moreover, it will give me the chance to share ideas and discuss with leaders in the alcool addiction.

During my post-doctoral fellow funded by the ANR ERA-NET, we test, in preclinical phase II, the potential of psychedelics in the treatment of alcohol addiction. We develop different model of alcohol exposure and analyzed effect of psychedelics on alcohol consumption in rats. We hope long-lasting effect of psychedelics and test the hypothesis of epigenetic modifications which contribute to their therapeutic effects.

Before my post-doctoral fellowship, I have realized a PhD on the role of SLAMF3 in liver cancer. This PhD gave me the knowledge of cell biology and the pathophysiology of hepatocellular carcinoma. Alcohol addiction research is a new thematic of research for me and this e-school might bring me the opportunity to develop my kowledge on alcohol addiction.

Molecular mechanisms of alcohol addiction

To gain additional insights to the different topics in alcohol addiction research.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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I am a fourth year doctoral student in Health Behavior at the University of Florida. My research interests include exploring key risk factors that underlie health-related decision-making and risky behaviors, specifically unhealthy alcohol use and sexual risk-taking. I am particularly interested in applying behavioral economic concepts to better understand risky health behaviors and substance use among adolescents and young adults in different contexts. My dissertation is aiming to assess the utility of behavioral economic measures of sexual and alcohol use behaviors (i.e., sexual delay discounting, alcohol demand, and alcohol reinforcement) among heavy drinking young adult men, in the context of a randomized control trial.

Participation in this program provides an excellent opportunity to get some basic background on alcohol research. My doctoral training program does not have a clinical aspect, thus my exposure to better understand alcohol addiction has been limited. As an early career alcohol researcher, I am highly motivated to participate in this program to expand my horizon to strengthen my foundational knowledge of alcohol addiction.

My research focus on the implication of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway in motivated behavior as well as alcohol addiction. Using behavioral experiment and the DREADDs chemogenetic approach we try to demonstrate, on one hand, that an alteration of this pathway could be responsible for some of the withdrawal symptoms that appears when people stop to drink such as apathy, depression or anxiety. On another hand, we try to demonstrate that an alteration of this pathway could be responsible for the development of compulsivity for alcohol that is one of the major hallmarks of alcohol addiction. It is an original approach because the nigrostriatal pathway is mainly known to this involvement in motor functions and neurologic disorders rather than motivational or emotional function and psychiatric pathologies.

I’m finishing my PhD focusing on alcohol addiction in the team of Sebastien Carnicella. I’m currently writing my thesis and this fall-school represent an incredible opportunity to increase my theoretical knowledge about this pathology. It will also be a wonderful chance to interact with researcher of the field.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

Fluid regulation in the brain, communication between the brain and peripheral immune systems, and relationships between inflammation and brain structure.

Planned future involvement in research projects focusing on alcohol use disorders in aging populations (in preclinical models)

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Psychosocial interventions for alcohol misuse in alcoholic liver disease

Research project includes alcoholic liver disease

My research focuses on understanding how low-level developmental lead exposure alters the brain and behavior in adulthood. My focus is on changes in response to alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Further, I am also researching cross-sensitization to alcohol and morphine in high and low alcohol preferring mice.

I think this is a great opportunity to learn about areas of alcohol research that I may not be exposed to now and learn more about clinical advances in AUD research.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Just beginning to enter into the field of alcohol

Acute impact of cue-elicited multi-sensory imagery on alcohol craving at harmful drinkers

To be updated by the recent research and development in new treatments in addiction.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

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To understand the status of Wnt/beta catenin signaling following ethanol exposure in the blood brain barrier. The study also tried to understand if activation of Wnt/beta catenin signaling could prevent the blood brain barrier breakdown by ethanol. We found that SSRI drugs fluoxetine at its brain relevance concentration could activate Wnt and reduced BBB dysfunction caused by ethanol in vitro.
Our current project is to understand if this finding could be translated in vivo in term of characterizing fluoxetine activity in preventing BBB breakdown following ethanol exposure.

Coming from a developing country, we have less awareness about the negative effect of ethanol toward brain health. By joining this e-school I am hoping to have a better picture of how alcohol impacting brain, not only the blood brain barrier that previously I studied in my PhD. This understanding will be helpful to help me communicate with society in my home country to raise awareness about the positive and negative impact of drinking especially toward the teenage. Teenage love to try something new including alcohol drinking. With this e-school on Alcohol Research, I am hoping to have more comprehensive perspective toward alcohol and brain. I start a project using Brain Awareness Week to promote teenager awareness about alcohol. It will be held in September 2021. This event will give me all supply to study more before the brain awareness week.

Relationships between sleep and alcohol-related brain damage and cognitive deficits

To have courses on alcohol research provided by experts of addiction field.

My current subject of research is cognitive symptoms in patients with alcohol use disorder and associated alcohol-induced mechanisms, with a particular focus on thiamine (vitamine B1) metabolism. Thiamine deficiency, a frequent condition in these patients, is known to be relevant for the pathophysiology of Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome, however, evidence regarding underlying pathways, predisposing factors and adequate substitution is very limited and many significant questions arise. Furthermore, there is data indicating, that thiamine deficiency might not only cause the full clinical pictures of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, but most likely also does contribute to the emerge of subclinical cognitive decline (mild cognitive impairment) within these specific group of patients. Our current research projects aim to contribute to a pathopysiological concept explaining cognitive decline due to thiamine deficiency and brain iron overload.

Selected Publications:
1. Listabarth S, König D, Vyssoki B, Hametner S. Does thiamine protect the brain from iron overload and alcohol-related dementia? Alzheimer’s Dement. 2020:1–5.
2. Listabarth S, Vyssoki B, Waldhoer T, Gmeiner A, Vyssoki S, Wippel A, et al. Hazardous alcohol consumption among older adults: A comprehensive and multi-national analysis of predictive factors in 13,351 individuals. Eur Psychiatry. 2021; 64(1):e4.
3. Listabarth S, Gmeiner A, Pruckner N, Vyssoki S, Wippel A, König D. When demand exceeds supply: Liver transplantation due to alcohol use disorder in Austria. Neuropsychiatrie. 2020;

The Fall e-school of Alcohol Addiction research represents a unique opportunity to listen and connect with excellent researchers in the field of alcohol addiction research. The multi-faceted program offers insights into a variety of research aspects associated with alcohol use disorder ranging from effects on the brain and cognitive functioning, to animal models conceptualising alcohol addiction, theoretical concepts of addiction and promising new therapeutic approaches. As a current PhD student I’m particularly interested to hear about the most recent developments in this exciting research area and hope for a chance to directly connect (despite the online format) with other participants of the e-school or even with some of the speakers. I would very much appreciate the chance to participate in the Fall e-school and as as stated before I’m very much looking forward to theses courses.

I was hired as a post-doc in the laboratory of Dr. David Linsenbardt in the department of Neurosciences at the University of New Mexico where I will be conducting preclinical research in mice assessing how repeated binge alcohol drinking impacts the biology and function of the brain. The studies I am conducting in his lab will reveal how the coordinated activity of networks of genes mediate the physiological functioning of key brain reward circuitry to facilitate repeated and excessive alcohol consumption. The end goals of this work are to better understand why and how alcohol use leads to addiction and to identify biological targets for treating Alcohol use disorders.

I recently received my PhD in the Spring of 2021. However, my dissertation research and all of my research experience thus far, has centered around neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer’s disease. In my former lab, I studied the development of tauopathy and its interaction with neuroinflammatory cascades in the brain as well as vaccine development targeting pathological tau aggregation and spread. This Alcohol Addiction Bootcamp will uniquely position me to quickly become familiar with the top names in the field of alcohol addiction, learn about the research priorities, and help to understand where my research ideas can fit into this diverse field. Importantly, I recently received a K19 training award that will help with my career development as an academic researcher.

Analysis of treatments to prevent behavioral and cognitive detrimental effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol

My main interest is to learn about animals models of alcohol research, specifically rats, furthermore, learn scientific and technical skills to develop more efficiently my work.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a major public health problem with nearly 782,000 new cases / year worldwide. Chronic alcohol consumption is recognized as a major risk factor for the occurrence of alcoholic liver disease leading to hepatic cirrhosis and HCC. Well known and explicitly exposed to patients receiving oncological treatment, the maintenance and impact of their alcohol consumption on the evolution of HCC remains however little or not studied. Currently, the therapeutic management of patients with HCC does not take into account their alcohol consumption. The study of the consequences of alcohol consumption on the response to different chemotherapeutic treatments of HCC as well as the molecular mechanisms involved or inhibited by alcohol will be crucial to define a therapeutic strategy adapted to each patient. This project aims to structure a translational tool around a priority topic of public health. Thus, our project provided the first data linking regular consumption of alcohol and the chances of successful treatment. In addition, our project provided an understanding of the mechanisms of aggressiveness of alcoholic HCC and resistance to alcoholic HCC treatment.

Participating in this e-school would allow me to acquire new knowledge on the alcohol mechanisms as well as exchange around a major public health problem.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

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I’m a doctorate student at the University of Tours researching
transfer of addiction in Alcohol and I am interested in attending the
2-days e-school on Alcohol Research that will take place between 25th
and 29th October.

– Working as student research assistant at the department of genetics and epidemiology psychiatry
– Starting octobre 2021 I’ll start as research assistant (Psychology, B.Sc.)
– Actual subject research and project for the next months will be about a systems-medicine approach towards distinct and
shared resilience and pathological mechanisms of substance use disorders (SUDs)
– Actually our subproject research will be about alcohol use disorder (AUD)compared in post-mortem brain areas and cases

– Recommendation of my Department to take part in this course to acquire more knowledge about alcohol addiction research
– also my own interest about this topic
– Name of my department: Zentralinstitut Mannheim – Department for genetic and epidemiology in the psychiatry
– References: Lea Zillich (Phd-stundent, which also takes part in the course)

Influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the relationship between alcohol consumption and depressive symptoms – genetic impact on risk of depressive symptoms when drinking alcohol, both in the general population and in a clinical sample of AUD patients.

The genetics part of my PhD has taken most of the focus so far in my project, as the method is driven by the genetic analyses. However, I want to utilise the genetic findings to understand more of the neurobiology and physiology behind alcohol’s effect on the brain, mood regulation and alteration of motivation and attention – both related to addiction/abuse and to average consumption in the general population. I am therefore very much in need of broader information about the alcohol research field, and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to participate in this course. I am motivated to continue with alcohol research after my PhD, in the field of preventive medicine and psychiatry, where I hope that more knowledge will help professionals to understand addiction better and be more able to address the treatment gap.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

Sexual dimorphism of insular cortex circuits in alcohol use disorder.

My previous research interest was mainly focus on psychostimulant, these past few years I have been interested in alcohol addiction. Being part of this e-school of Alcohol addiction research would be a unique opportunity to learn more about alcohol addiction through expert in the field. The knowledges acquired would help me to extend my research project.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

Behavioral and neural plasticity associated with excessive alcohol drinking.

I am currently transitioning into the alcohol research field and would like to participate in the Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research in order to gain more knowledge on alcohol addiction. Moreover, participating in the course would provide me with knowledge of the animal models used in alcohol research and new promising treatments. In addition, this would give me the opportunity to meet other researchers in the field and build networking connections.

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

My PhD project focuses on social cognition impairments in severe alcohol use disorder and has two main fundamental objectives:
1) to gain a comprehensive understanding of the range of social cognition impairments in this disorder by extending investigations beyong emotion recognition and Theory of Mind abilities (e.g., attribution, social context perception), on the basis of models developped in other psychiatric disorders.
2) to identify the lower-level cognitive (mostly attentional and memory) mechanisms that may underlie social cognition impairments in this disorder.
An applied objective, which will depend on the conclusiveness of the fundamental studies, will be to manipulate the identified mechanisms to determine whether this can improve social cognition abilities in severe alcohol use disorder.
To pursue these objectives, we employ a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking methodologies.

In general, participating in this e-school would be a privileged way to keep up to date with the multidisciplinary state to of the art in the field of alcohol use disorders. This is important to me since working on a highly specific subject may cause one to lose track of key developments of general importance to the field. Staying tuned with this essential knowledge further helps to design studies that better align with the needs and challenges of the field, maximizing their impact.
More specifically, this event would constitute an excellent opportunity to interact with internationally-renowned researchers in alcohol use disorders and to benefit from their expertise on aspects directly related to my project. I am indeed interested in the way interpersonal aspects may fit in dominant models of alcohol use disorder (Koob), but also in how social cognition impaiments may explain why human patients benefit less from the presence of social reward than rodents (Naassila). Similarly, I am concerned with the neurocognitive substrates (Pitel, de Timary) of social cognitive impairments, and the value of these impairments as novel treatment targets (Dematteis, Spanagel).

pharmacogenetic analysis of the dopaminergic and cholinergic system in alcohol and cocaine dependence in an animal model and in patients from Cracolândia – SP

It is an honor to participate in something with researchers that we mention daily to deepen our knowledge and share experiences in the area.

I am a fourth year PharmD candidate, and a second year student in Psychology. Through these studies, I am moving towards research in psychiatry, neuropharmacology and new therapies for mental illnesses and addictions.

I wish to participate in your e-school to improve my knowledge about alcohol addiction in a formal context, from international experts. Although I am not a PhD student yet, I hope you will consider my application as your e-school embodies an opportunity to get the full picture of current addition research.

None

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Identification of biomarkers of relapse after cocaine withdrawal
Neuroanatomical abnormalities in patients using crack cocaine
Characterization of cocaine dependent patients with codependence (alcohol, opioids…)

My motivations for attending this seminar are to make a global review of the knowledge on alcohol dependence, and in particular on the cerebral alterations generated

My research focuses on medication development and use of novel pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder (AUD), specifically in the older adult (65+) population.

I’m interested in joining to increase my knowledge in the field

M2NDCA – MASTER 2 NEUROSCIENCES DEVELOP COGNITION ET DES ADDICTIONS

None

My current subject of research aims at investigating the short-term effects of alcohol-cannabis polyconsumption on the electrophysiological properties of the medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens in adolescent male Long-Evans rats, as well as on the properties of glutamatergic synaptic transmission at cortical inputs. For this, we use a chronic intermittent ethanol exposure protocol mimicking a binge drinking exposure. In this protocol, rats receive 3 g/kg intraperitoneal administration of 20% ethanol or equivalent volume of saline solution once a day in a two-day on and two-day off pattern as one cycle, repeated four times in total. In addition, the subject also aims to study the effects of cannabis on alcohol consumption in order to measure whether the THC (delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol) contained in cannabis increases or not the reinforcing properties of alcohol in adolescence. To demonstrate this potential interaction of the two drugs, it is planned to measure the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens using the rapid cyclic voltametry technique.

I would like to participate in this seminar because it is a unique opportunity to meet renowned researchers in the alcohol addiction research field and to discuss with them the latest developments in this field. Furthermore, this seminar will provide me with new knowledge in this field which will be useful for my thesis.

Addiction Psychiatrist

PhD in Addictions Research – Alcohol Related Health Harms – Treatment sector impact on hospitalisation and mortality

Excellent speaker lineup

Working towards independence as a researcher

Grant application skills as a PI

Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS) is a neurological disorder that stems from alcohol use disorder (AUD) and is marked by severe and permanent amnesia. Not all AUD patients develop KS, despite bearing similar cognitive impairments. My research centers around evaluating those AUD patients at risk of developing KS using neuropsychological, biological and neuroimaging markers. Identifying those patients at high risk of KS early enough will allow to administer the appropriate treatment early enough for more effective and efficient treatment outcomes.

This e-school offers the unique opportunity to interact with experts in the field of cognition (Dr. Pitel), biology (Dr De Timary, Dr Mueller), animal models (Dr Naassila), lifestyle (Dr Camarini) and theoretical models (Dr Koob), and treatment (Dr Spanagel, Dr Dematteis). I trust that my research will benefit from their sound knowledge, experience and guidance. More generally, as a research engineer, I have 10 years of experience in the development of neuroimaging methods and mathematical models applied to alcohol use disorder in humans. I therefore hope to participate actively during the discussion forums in a bid to generate novel research methods in the field of alcohol addiction.

we still do not have good data on alcohol addiction in Indonesia. I would like to do research on epidemiological data for alcohol addiction among adolescent and young adult, define the risk factor, and the impact for cognitive disorder. I will use fMRI BOLD to analyze the functional connectivity which is influenced by alcohol addiction. For the future research I will develop the cognitive training for adolescent and young adult with alcohol addiction. We still do not have alcohol addiction prevention program for adolescent and young adult now. the result from this research will help the government to develop the effective prevention program.

We face high risk of alcohol abuse among adolescent and young adult because of Covid-19 pandemic. They can buy alcohol by online and they use alcohol to reduce the anxiety and boredom. I would like to learn more about the risk factor, impact and treatment of alcohol addiction, so I can develop the comprehensive intervention services for adolescent and young adult, including prevention program in Indonesia. I can develop the research on alcohol addiction, including the effect on brain and the effectivity of CBT-TMS as the treatment. We are lacking for expert on alcohol disorder in Indonesia, so it is a wonderful opportunity to learn in this workshop. I can also use what I get in the workshop when I teach my students.

Alcohol and subjective response, determinants of alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder in human subjects; genetics and genomics

To update myself on the latest developments from the pioneers of research

I would like to thank this Committee for the consideration of my actual subject of research for attending. Ethanol (EtOh) addiction is an enormous health problem. About 80% of patients relapse to EtOh taking during the treatment. Exposure to the environment previously associated with ethanol abuse is considered the main factor to induce relapse. The basolateral (BLA) and central (CeA) amygdala seem to be involved in relapse to drug-seeking and implicated in encoding drug associative memories. These associations between environmental contexts and drug effects are thought to be encoded by sparsely distributed patterns of neurons called “neuronal ensembles”. However, the role of these BLA and CeA in context-induced ethanol seeking is not entirely understood. Here we examine whether BLA and CeA mediate context-induced reinstatement after punishment-imposed abstinence. Thus, our main objective is investigating whether neuronal ensembles in BLA and CeA mediated context-induced reinstatement of EtOH seeking after punishment-imposed abstinence.

I would like to thank this Committee for considering my motivation letter for the course e-school of Alcohol Addictions Research 2021. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at Department of Pharmacology, Federal University of São Paulo. My long-term research interests involve the investigation of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between alcohol, neuronal ensemble, and drug abuse. My academic training and research experience have provided with an excellent background in multiple pre-clinical models for the investigation of the neuronal ensembles in alcohol addiction, from behavior, neuropsypharmacology and molecular techniques. My career goals are to establish myself as an internationally recognized researcher in behavioral neuroscience, perpetuating my research history and scientific interests in the investigation of the mechanisms underlying alcohol and neuronal ensemble in the context of drug abuse. Thus, the opportunity to study, meet and ask my questions with exceptional and greatest professors in alcohol abuse area is unique and perfect to me. I am looking forward to attending the meeting, and I kindly request that this Committee looks favorably on my application for the registration. Thank you for your consideration.

Relapse is major problem in treating alcohol addiction. Clinical studies have observed that the environmental context in which drugs are used can increase the susceptibility to relapse to drug-seeking and taking. The ABA renewal procedure has been used as a preclinical animal model to study relapse to drug-seeking induced by context. Recent studies demonstrated that basolateral amygdala is involved in encoding the environmental stimuli associated with drug use. In this project, we assessed the participation of basolateral amygdala (BLA) and its cortical projections in context-induced reinstatement of alcohol-seeking in rats. We observed that the projection of prelimbic cortex to basolateral amygdala seems to be more involved with context-induced reinstatement of alcohol-seeking behavior.

First, my name is Gabrielle Tavares, I have a Bachelor degree in Pharmacy at Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT – Mato Grosso, Brazil) and I am in my final year of a MSc research in Pharmacology at the Federal University of São Paulo and am writing to apply to your Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research.
I am passionate about having a career in the alcohol addiction field, as I have enjoyed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees and am eager to build on my PhD with the skills I have gained. In regards to studying at your Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research, I seek to combine all the knowledge I have gathered over the years and try to deepen my understanding of the neurobiology of alcohol addiction behavior. I have decided to go down this route because I think that knowledge about alcohol is essential for society since the abuse of this substance is responsible for many deaths and a public health crisis.

Addiction research in all aspects; diagnosing, medical treatment and prevention.
I am also involved in clinical toxicology studies

Since the capacities of learning in my home country are very limited, I am very eager to learn as much as I can from any possibility that can be offered to me.
Also due to the fact that here in Albania, all the financial expenses are all covered by the researcher him/herself, it is a great opportunity to attend and to learn from virtual events.
So I am happy this event is organized online

Like dopamine, acetylcholine also plays an important role in reward related learning and decision-making processes. Previous studies of muscarinic receptor were mainly carried out with non-subtype specific ligands which results in various side effects and failure in clinical development. Recently, our lab our lab has shown that inhibition of the M5 mAChR (via negative allosteric modulation) or enhancement of the M4 mAChR (via positive allosteric modulation) can reduce both alcohol consumption and relapse to alcohol seeking. Importantly, these effects were specific to alcohol, with no effect on natural reward (sucrose) self-administration or sedation. However, the mechanism(s) of how alcohol causes cholinergic dysregulation and the neurocircuitry within the brain underpinning these behaviours is still unknown. Therefore, in my PhD project, I aim to identify the effects of long-term voluntary alcohol intake on cholinergic signalling.

I believe that translational research can never be possible through a single person. I admire the work of the many faculties listed in this course, so this is the best chance to talk with them directly and help to refine my existing concepts. By attending this coursework, I will also get a chance to connect with other researchers working in the same field. This is more of my interest because this course is very similar to my research area.

Impact of non-invasive brain stimulations on addiction-related behaviors, mood and cognition: preclinical studies

Very interesting program that meet my fied of research

For my PhD thesis, I study parents’ alcohol and tobacco use both before and during pregnancy using a Finnish birth cohort consisting of 21 472 singleton pregnancies. The cohort has information on about 14 000 pregnant women and their partners in deliveries that took place between 2009 and 2018. I have analyzed the prevalence of use and correlations between the pregnant women and their partners. In addition, I am investigating how alcohol use of both parents affects the birth outcomes. Furthermore, I have published a review article about alcohol use related changes in the human metabolome in Alcohol and Alcoholism (Voutilainen & Kärkkäinen, 2019). I am doing my PhD studies in University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Health Sciences.

Because I am new in the field of alcohol studies, I think it’s vital for me to understand how alcohol addiction affects the body and especially the brain. The Fall e-school of Alcohol Addiction gives a perfect opportunity to gain this knowledge from the experts in the field and this knowledge will help me to further my research. Specifically, I hope that this e-school will help me in understanding why some women use alcohol during pregnancy despite the advice to abstain. Also, I appreciate the chance to meet the PIs, as it gives me a great opportunity to ask questions, but also enables me to see what kind of research and work opportunities alcohol research could offer in the future.

Iron overload and hepcidin regulation in alcohol related disease. Liver-secreted hepcidin is considered the systemic master switch of mammalian iron homeostasis with liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) derived bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP6) and the BMP6/SMAD signaling pathway being essential for hepcidin expression. Since iron sensing by hepcidin is still incompletely understood, my major project is “the crosstalk between endothelial cells (ECs) and hepatocyte hepcidin signaling” using an in vitro model.

I want to learn more advanced progress in alcohol related disease. And in this e-school, young investigators will have the unique opportunity to meet the PI.

I am a 3rd year PhD student undertaking a mixed methods economic and qualitative evaluation of assertive outreach treatment (AOT) for people who frequently attend hospital for alcohol-related reasons. My interests lie in the provision of care and treatment for people with addiction and complex needs, multimorbidity and high-need high-cost patient populations more generally. I am patient and public involvement champion for the Alcohol Theme of the South London Applied Research Collaboration (ARC).

I have over 15 years’ experience of working in addiction, supporting clinical specialists and working collaboratively to develop innovative services and obtain research grants. However I am now an early career researcher “proper” in alcohol research, eager to contribute to advancing the field with particular focus on patient-centred care. While our local work is pivotal in this learning, a fundamental priority for me has always been to engage with and learn from international colleagues. This always enhances our thinking and expands our perspectives. The Fall e-School of Alcohol Addiction Research provides a valuable opportunity to do so at a time when international travel is not such an available option.

– Brain connectome of young adolescents, including those who may be prone to alcohol addiction.
– Parent alcohol use and its impact on children’s brain connectivity.

I was trained in Physics but started conducting neuroimaging-related research during my PhD, where I studied Alzheimer’s disease. I started my post-doc position early 2021 and my PI’s group focuses on alcohol addictions and other substance use. I also intend to focus on alcohol research for my career. While I am familiar with neuroimaging data and the corresponding analysis methods, I lack in domain knowledge of alcohol addiction. Therefore, this course seems to be perfect chance for me to boost my knowledge and advance my research!

The role of Ventral Striatum Direct and Indirect Pathway on context-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking at Fabio Cardoso Cruz`s Lab at UNIFESP-SP/Brazil. I also spent a year at Ivan de Araujo`s Lab at Mount Sinai NYC investigating the role of gut-brain axis on alcohol consumption/preference.

This is a unique opportunity for a PhD student to learn with the best of alcohol addiction. This course will improve my knowledge and help to enrich my research that is all related with alcohol. I am very interested in participating and It is amazing that we can do it from our Country!
Look forward to learning with you!

Multi-Omics Analysis of Alcohol Use Disorder

To get an overview of other AUD-related research, especially from the clinical field.

Oxytocin as potential treatment target in alcohol addicted patients

Dear Sir or Madam,

my name is Sina Zimmermann, I am psychologist and a PhD-student in my second year. Within the scope of my PhD I am investigating the effects of oxytocin in alcohol addicted patients, but also the effect of stress and other environmental factors that could affect alcohol addiction. Therefore, we conduct fMRI studies where we administer oxytocin (intranasal) in individuals who fulfill the criteria for alcohol use disorder (DSM-V) and/or alcohol addiction (according to ICD-10). In addition, we examine patients in their natural environment via an ambulatory assessment study design.
The program of the e-school (and also the great speakers of the e-school) presents me with the valuable opportunity to increase and deepen my knowledge about different aspects of alcohol addiction. Also, it would be a great opportunity for me to meet some of the PIs, whose names I have already become aware of through the literature.
Thank you for taking the time to review my short application.

Yours sincerely,
Sina Zimmermann