The Biomedical Alcohol Research Training Program will prepare pre- and post-doctoral PhD, or combined MD/PhD candidates, and postdoctoral fellows with MD, DVM and/or PhD degrees for research careers focused on the biomedical consequences of alcohol consumption and abuse. Through joint efforts, Core and Support Faculty from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and Tulane School of Public Health, and National Primate Research Center will participate in interdisciplinary training and mentoring on diverse areas of alcohol research, and specialty training including experimental design and statistical analysis, use of animals in research, and translational approaches. Trainees will pursue alcohol research projects under four interrelated themes 1) Alcohol/HIV Disease; 2) Alcohol/ Neuro-immune-modulation; 3) Alcohol/Stem Cell and Progenitor Cell Biology; and 4) Alcohol/ Neurobehavioral interactions. The Training Program is designed to develop trainee's technical, analytical, and communication skills that will allow them to advance knowledge by conducting hypotheses-driven mechanistic research on the biomedical consequences of alcohol consumption and abuse. Using rodent, non-human primate models, as well as clinical and translational approaches; trainees will have a broad range of scientific areas to provide opportunities for research training. Didactic and educational programs including the study of responsible conduct of research will integrate pre- and post-doctoral trainee development. Participation in a professional development program that is designed to increase their knowledge base in the alcohol research field, understanding of experimental design and analysis, grantsmanship, institutional requirement to conduct research as well as their written and oral communication skills will further enrich their training experienc. Five pre-doctoral trainees in the PhD, or MD, PhD combined program, and 4 postdoctoral fellows (MD, DVM and/or PhD) will be in the Program each year. Particular emphasis will be placed in recruitment of outstanding candidates for the combined MD, PhD program. Furthermore, efforts to continue our recruitment, mentoring, and retention of fellows from diverse cultural, ethnic, and training background, particularly those that are under-represented in the biomedical research field will be emphasized. The goal of the program is to provide mentorship and focused training so that emerging MD and PhD scientists can become familiar with the biomedical problems related to alcohol consumption and acquire the tools to do high quality, competitive research.

Public Health Relevance

This training grant will address the health needs of our nation by training the future generation of basic and translational scientists to address the major health concern of biomedical consequences of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Yearly in the United States alone AUD cause premature death in about 120,000 people, adversely affects the lives of approximately 14 million Americans and their family members at a health care cost to society of greater than $200 billion dollars. This training program is relevant to healthcare, because our nation is facing a critical shortage of US citizens entering the biomedical research field.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32AA007577-20
Application #
9554740
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAA1)
Program Officer
Wang, Joe
Project Start
1999-09-22
Project End
2019-08-31
Budget Start
2018-09-01
Budget End
2019-08-31
Support Year
20
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Louisiana State Univ Hsc New Orleans
Department
Physiology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
782627814
City
New Orleans
State
LA
Country
United States
Zip Code
70112
Pahng, Amanda R; Paulsen, Rod I; McGinn, M Adrienne et al. (2018) Dysregulation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation in alcohol dependence. Alcohol 75:11-18
Ninh, Van K; El Hajj, Elia C; Mouton, Alan J et al. (2018) Chronic Ethanol Administration Prevents Compensatory Cardiac Hypertrophy in Pressure Overload. Alcohol Clin Exp Res :
Hulsebus, Holly J; Curtis, Brenda J; Molina, Patricia E et al. (2018) Summary of the 2017 Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) meeting. Alcohol 69:51-56
Avegno, Elizabeth M; Lobell, Thomas D; Itoga, Christy A et al. (2018) Central Amygdala Circuits Mediate Hyperalgesia in Alcohol-Dependent Rats. J Neurosci 38:7761-7773
Pahng, Amanda R; Edwards, Scott (2018) Measuring Pain Avoidance-Like Behavior in Drug-Dependent Rats. Curr Protoc Neurosci 85:e53
Samuelson, Derrick R; Burnham, Ellen L; Maffei, Vincent J et al. (2018) The respiratory tract microbial biogeography in alcohol use disorder. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 314:L107-L117
Maffei, Vincent J; Kim, Sangkyu; Blanchard 4th, Eugene et al. (2017) Biological Aging and the Human Gut Microbiota. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 72:1474-1482
McGinn, M Adrienne; Pahng, Amanda R (2017) Pathophysiology of affective disorders: functional interaction of stress hormones and hippocampal excitation. J Neurophysiol 117:477-479
Pahng, Amanda R; Colombo, Paul J (2017) Phosphorylation of tyrosine receptor kinase B in the dorsal striatum and dorsal hippocampus is associated with response learning in a water plus maze. Behav Neurosci 131:33-41
Pahng, Amanda R; McGinn, M Adrienne; Paulsen, Rod I et al. (2017) The Prefrontal Cortex as a Critical Gate of Negative Affect and Motivation in Alcohol Use Disorder. Curr Opin Behav Sci 13:139-143

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