This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $722,876 to New York University School of Medicine to conduct a study characterizing complex opioid use disorder (OUD) care trajectories and outcomes following acute service utilization. The study aims to: 1) characterize real-world trajectories of OUD treatment in the year following hospital encounters among treatment-naive individuals and...
This $385,000 Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) aims to advance integrated treatment for co-occurring opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) in real-world settings. The key objectives are to: Assess the effectiveness of integrated treatment approaches, including first-line medications and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), for patients with co-occurring OUD...
This Project Grant award of $218,900 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) supports research to characterize the formation and maintenance of drug-biased beliefs in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). The primary objectives are to: 1) quantify domain-specific optimism biases in OUD and assess how these biases are updated as participants engage in daily life; 2) investigate the neural mechanisms underlying...
This Project Grant award of $159,615 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279) will support research to predict craving and relapse in opioid use disorder using neurobehavioral markers of goals and habits. The key objectives are to: Track daily changes in motivational control during inpatient heroin addiction treatment with and without fentanyl use, to understand how goal-directed control evolves with abstinence. Use the...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs) provides $541,080 to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to conduct a randomized controlled trial examining the use of extended-release injectable buprenorphine versus sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone in treating opioid use disorder (OUD) among individuals who use high-potency synthetic opioids. The key objectives are to compare abstinence and...
This Project Grant award of $2,415,940.00, awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), supports research to develop digital biomarkers and phenotypes for tracking craving patterns in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) during medication-based treatment (MOUD). The award will fund a prospective, observational trial of 300 participants initiating MOUD with buprenorphine, methadone or naltrexone. Continuous wearable...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs) is focused on lowering cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among people with opioid use disorder (OUD). The $189,500 award, effective April 15, 2025 through March 31, 2030, will be used by the University of Pittsburgh to: Examine the relationship between OUD and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). 2) Determine barriers and facilitators to CVD prevention among people...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $1,076,036 to the University of Pittsburgh to conduct research on targeting prefrontal cortex (PFC) interneurons for personalized treatments in opioid use disorder (OUD). The key objectives are to: Assess how individual differences in PFC theta power and interneuron physiology correlate with fentanyl self-administration and affective disturbances...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $2,285,443 to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to conduct a mechanistic study investigating the role of the orexin system in treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and comorbid insomnia. The key products and services to be delivered under this 5-year award include: 1) Examining the effects of the FDA-approved dual orexin receptor antagonist...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs) provides $147,486 to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania to conduct research on the role of mu-opioid receptor (MOR)-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in the development of stress-related phenotypes and their influence on opioid self-administration. The key objectives are to: a) determine how susceptible and resilient...
A NOVEL HUMAN LABORATORY MODEL OF RESILIENCE AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH OPIOID USE DISORDER - DESPITE VAST ECONOMIC INVESTMENTS TO MITIGATE THE HARMS OF OPIOID USE DISORDER (OUD), THE PREVALENCE OF THE DISORDER REMAINS HIGH IN ADDITION TO AN ESTIMATED 80,000 AMERICANS DYING FROM OPIOID-RELATED OVERDOSES YEARLY. GIVEN THE SIGNIFICANT HETEROGENEITY ACROSS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF OUD, PRIORITIZING INVESTIGATIONS OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL PHENOTYPES SUCH AS RESILIENCE MAY IMPROVE OUR ETIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISORDER. THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED STUDY IS TO DEVELOP A LABORATORY MODEL OF RESILIENCE, ALLOWING THE OBJECTIVE EXAMINATION OF THIS CONSTRUCT IN A CONTROLLED LABORATORY SETTING. THE STUDY WILL EMPLOY A WITHIN-SUBJECTS, RANDOMIZED DESIGN AND INVESTIGATE ASSOCIATIONS OF RESILIENCE WITH HEROIN-SEEKING AND DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIORS. IN ADDITION, THIS STUDY AIMS TO BETTER CHARACTERIZE RESILIENCE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH OUD THROUGH A DEEP MULTIDIMENSIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL, COGNITIVE, AND AFFECTIVE PHENOTYPING APPROACH. TO ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS, INDIVIDUALS WHO MEET DSM-5 CRITERIA FOR OUD WILL BE RECRUITED TO ACHIEVE N=50 COMPLETERS. PARTICIPANTS WILL BE STABILIZED ON ORAL MORPHINE THROUGHOUT THEIR 10-DAY INPATIENT STAY TO DIMINISH CONFOUNDING EFFECTS OF ACUTE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS ON STUDY ASSESSMENTS. THE PRIMARY AIM WILL BE TO ASSESS WHETHER RESILIENCE LABORATORY TASKS (CONTROL, COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL FLEXIBILITY) DEMONSTRATE CONVERGENT VALIDITY WITH SELF-REPORTED RESILIENCE UNDER STRESS (TRIER SOCIAL STRESS TEST, TSST) AND NON-STRESS (NON-STRESS TEST; NST) EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS. PARTICIPANTS WILL UNDERGO THESE TWO EXPERIMENTAL SESSIONS (TSST AND NST) IN RANDOM ORDER. DURING THE SESSIONS, HEART RATE (HR) AND HR VARIABILITY, BLOOD PRESSURE, AND GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE WILL BE ASSESSED AS PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES OF STRESS REACTIVITY. IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE TSST AND NST SESSIONS, PARTICIPANTS WILL COMPLETE SELF-REPORT ASSESSMENTS OF STRESS (PERCEIVED STRESS, CRAVING, AND DESIRE TO USE HEROIN), A HYPOTHETICAL DRUG PURCHASE TASK (PROXY FOR HEROIN SELF- ADMINISTRATION) AND RESILIENCE LABORATORY TASKS. THIS PROPOSAL WILL ALLOW THE VALIDATION OF A NOVEL LABORATORY PROCEDURE TO EMPIRICALLY EXAMINE RESILIENCE AND PROVIDE PRELIMINARY DATA FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, COGNITIVE, EMOTIONAL, AND BEHAVIORAL SUBSTRATES OF THIS CONSTRUCT. ADDITIONALLY, THIS K08 PROPOSAL WILL PROVIDE CRITICAL TRAINING NEEDED TO ACHIEVE MY CAREER GOAL OF BECOMING AN INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED SCIENTIST-CLINICIAN. SPECIFICALLY, THIS MENTORED AWARD WILL ADVANCE MY RESEARCH CAREER BY (1) PROVIDING ESSENTIAL TRAINING IN STUDY DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY TO EVALUATE THE CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF MEASURES OF RESILIENCE USING HUMAN STRESS PARADIGMS, (2) SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VALID MULTIDIMENSIONAL PHENOTYPIC ASSESSMENT BATTERY TO CHARACTERIZE HETEROGENEITY ACROSS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF OUD, (3) IMPROVING MY SKILLS IN ADVANCED STATISTICAL METHODS AND ALLOWING ME TO DEVELOP A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, (4) IMPROVING MY MANUSCRIPT AND GRANT RECORD. THE TRAINING GOALS OUTLINED IN THIS K08 RESUBMISSION WILL EQUIP ME WITH A UNIQUE SET OF SKILLS IN HUMAN LABORATORY PARADIGMS AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING WHICH, IN COMBINATION WITH THE PILOT DATA COLLECTED AS PART OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH, WILL MAKE ME A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE CANDIDATE FOR FUTURE R01 SUBMISSIONS.