On this page you will find a collection of active addiction-related projects ongoing across Rutgers. Learn about on-going research projects and datasets available for analysis. Contact information for each project listed below is provided.

If you are interested in hosting your project on this page, please email rarc@bhi.rutgers.edu with your project details.

  • Investigating Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP) Neurons as Therapeutic Targets for Modulating Drinking

    Dysfunction of stress-related neuroendocrine and autonomic arousal pathways are highly associated with alcohol-related behaviors. Repeated alcohol use increases arousal. Moreover, higher arousal levels in treatment-seeking AUD patients correlates with higher rates of relapse. These findings suggest reciprocal interactions between arousal and alcohol use, such that higher basal arousal promotes alcohol drinking, which further exacerbates arousal. A challenge in understanding the neurobiological mechanisms mediating interactions between arousal and drinking is the lack of preclinical animal models that allow quantification of drinking together with longitudinal measurement of arousal and neuronal activity. We addressed this by designing a voluntary ethanol consumption paradigm for head-fixed mice combined with two-photon calcium imaging for neuronal activity recordings and pupillometry for measuring arousal. Our experiments suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) subdivision of the prefrontal cortex potently increases arousal. Basal levels of arousal and arousal-related ACC activity are correlated with the amount of ethanol consumption, suggesting that the ACC contributes to arousal modulation of drinking. Cortical activity is critically shaped by inhibition from local interneurons. The vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) expressing interneurons are particularly important as they inhibit other interneurons, leading to disinhibitory excitation of the ACC. We are testing the hypothesis that ACC VIP neurons are a key node for reciprocal interactions between arousal and ethanol consumption. Our mechanistic studies may establish VIP neurons as a key therapeutic target for modulating drinking driven by aberrant arousal.

    To inquire about this project, please contact Dr. Rafiq Huda, rafiq.huda@rutgers.edu.

  • Leveraging large-scale administrative claims data to evaluate prescription opioid use, risks, and outcomes in older adults living with HIV

    This project leverages existing administrative claims data from Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 years of age from 2007-2018 to determine how prescription opioid use affects health outcomes and health care utilization in older people living with HIV.

    To inquire about this project, please email Dr. Stephanie Shiau, stephanie.shiau@rutgers.edu.

  • Linkages between Ovarian Hormones and Affective Dysfunction with Alcohol Use, Reward and Reinforcement

    This project examines the role of fluctuations in progesterone and estradiol (ovarian hormones) as biological mechanisms of affective dysfunction that maintain the rewarding effects of alcohol in females with heavy drinking. This study involves a within-subjects, observational design with prospective daily assessment of the course of the menstrual cycle.

    To inquire about this project, please email Dr. Samantha Farris, samantha.farris@rutgers.edu.

  • Linking psychometric and multimodal neural measures of socioemotional functioning to early antisocial behavior and environmental risk

    Little is known about the mechanisms that confer risk for antisocial behavior during adolescence, as previous studies have focused on small, non-representative samples, and further research to determine these mechanisms is needed to improve methods of treatment and prevention. Socioemotional functioning (SEF)-reflecting ones ability to orient to and appropriately respond to emotional cues from others- is a promising candidate mechanism for mitigating the onset of antisocial behavior and developing targeted treatments. This project uses multimodal (self, parent, and teacher-report, neuroimaging, census) data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study and ABCD-Social Development substudy to improve measurement of SEF at the phenotypic and neural level, linking individual differences in SEF to antisocial behavior and environmental risk and protective factors.

    To inquire about this project, please contact Dr. Sarah Brislin, sarah.brislin@rutgers.edu (R21 MH126130).

  • Long-acting buprenorphine vs naltrexone opioid treatments in CJS-involved adults (EXIT-CJS)

    This multi-site randomized clinical trial will evaluate extended-release buprenorphine vs. extended-release naltrexone vs. standard of care medications for opioid use disorder in individuals leaving incarceration or with a recent history of criminal justice involvement.

    To inquire about this project, please contact Dr. Amesika Nyaku, amesika.nyaku@rutgers.edu.

  • Mechanisms underlying dysfunctional glucose sensing and corrective measures to normalize it

    Hypoglycemia is the major limiting factor in intensive insulin therapy used in treating Type 1 and advanced Type 2 diabetes. Repeated hypoglycemia leads to failure of the corrective hormonal and behavioral mechanisms which restore euglycemia resulting in hypoglycemia associated autonomic failure (HAAF) and hypoglycemia unawareness, respectively. Both of these syndromes impair glucose sensing neurons. We are currently studying the mechanisms underlying this dysfunctional glucose sensing and identifying corrective measures which normalize both glucose sensing and the ability to restore euglycemia.

    For more information about this project, contact Dr. Vanessa Routh, routhvh@njms.rutgers.edu.

  • Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) as an Adjunct to Methadone Treatment for Opioid Use and Chronic Pain Management

    Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) as an Adjunct to Methadone Treatment for Opioid Use and Chronic Pain Management is a study funded through the NIH HEAL Initiative. The objective of this study is to rigorously examine the impact of MORE, delivered through telehealth, on opioid use and chronic pain among individuals receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). The study is a randomized controlled trial (N=154) to test the efficacy of MORE, delivered by telehealth, on opioid use and chronic pain as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) among individuals in MMT. Participants in the MORE arm (n=77) attended up to 8 weekly, 2-hour online groups, with 7 people per group and their methadone TAU. Participants in the TAU arm (n=77) received methadone TAU. Outcomes include drug use, pain, stress, positive affect, and craving over 16 weeks.

    To inquire about data access, contact Dr. Nina Cooperman, Psy.D., cooperna@rwjms.rutgers.edu.

  • Mobile, Alabama pinned on map

    Mobile Youth Survey (MYS)

    The Mobile Youth Survey (MYS) was designed to identify the life course trajectories of adolescents (aged 10-18) living in poverty in the Mobile-Prichard inner city area of Alabama. The MYS was administered in a group-format between 1998-2011, and examined a number of psychosocial variables including risk behaviors (e.g., violence and agressive behavior, alcohol and drug use, sexual behavior), family factors (e.g., family structure and parental monitoring), and neighborhood factors (e.g., support from neighborhood). Over 12,000 youths enrolled in the MYS, producing nearly 36,000 annual data points. In 2008, DNA and more extensive phenotypic measures on a subsample of ~700 MYS participants ages 14-18 were collected. These youth were also part of a ‘natural experiment’ in which a random subset of families were relocated to better housing make possible by a government grant. The MYS sample is a unique resource for extending our understanding of the risks associated with identified genes, both in the sense that it is a largely African-American sample, an under-represented population in genetic studies, and an impoverished sample, making it possible to study how extreme environmental conditions, such as poverty, may alter the importance/expression of individual genetic predispositions and/or the role of other important environmental factors, such as family and peer variables.

    To inquire about working with the data, please contact Dr. Danielle Dick (Danielle.m.dick@rutgers.edu).

  • Multi-level gap analysis of treatment for HIV and OUD in New Jersey

    A multi-component examination of the HIV and OUD treatment landscape in NJ that includes a) geospatial syndemic analysis of county-level HIV and OD incidence, b) focus groups, and c) surveys to understand the barriers and facilitators to integrated HIV and OUD treatment.

    To inquire about this project, please contact Dr. Amesika Nyaku, amesika.nyaku@rutgers.edu.

  • Recovery

    The National Collegiate Recovery Program Study

    The National Collegiate Recovery Program Study provides a detailed picture of students participating in collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) at colleges and universities nation-wide. The purpose of this study is to understand participating students’ experiences by learning more about what aspects of CRPs are working well and what could be improved. It is our hope that the findings from this study will be used to tailor CRPs to better meet students’ complex needs. Four-year universities and community colleges with collegiate recovery programs were invited to be partners on this project. Schools were recruited through the Association of Recovery in Higher Education listservs and by word-of-mouth. Thirty-two universities from 12 states and one university from Canada served as recruitment sites. The number of participants per site ranged from 0 to 32; there are approximately 300 students participating in the project.

    To learn more about the study and/or to inquire about working with the data, please contact Dr. Danielle Dick (Danielle.m.dick@rutgers.edu).

  • Risk environment analysis to inform overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND)

    This qualitative study explores the perspectives of people who use drugs to build a foundation for an OEND program that directly addresses the needs of people who are most affected by opioid overdose – people who use drugs.

    To inquire about this project, please contact Dr. Amesika Nyaku, amesika.nyaku@rutgers.edu.

  • Role of microglial exosomes in ethanol-induced stress hyper-response

    Approximately 2-5% of children born in the US have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD patients are often vulnerable to psychiatric disorders including hyper-response to stress and anxiety and depressive behaviors. Preclinical and clinical studies identify microglia, one of the immune cells in the central nervous system, playing a major role in the alcohol-induced damage of stress regulatory neurons. Recent studies show that inflammatory molecules can be released in association with small extracellular vesicles like exosomes from microglia. Exosomes comprised of a lipid bilayer, transmembrane proteins and cytosolic components derived from their host cells. By employing proteomic and genomic measurements we are identifying the cargo molecules that are released from microglia following prenatal ethanol exposures. We are also evaluating the role of these molecules in apoptosis of in situ differentiated or in vivo neuronal cells, and in induction of stress axis abnormalities and anxiety-like behaviors. Due to the critical role of exosomes in intercellular communications with respect to cargo delivery to recipient cells, exosomes or synthetic exosome-mimics have been investigated as vectors for drug delivery. Hence, our investigations may help to develop novel therapeutic approaches employing exosomes to prevent stress and other psychiatric disorders in FASD patients. Postdoctoral fellowship is available.

    To enquire about the fellowship opportunity, please contact Dr. Dipak Sarkar, Dipak.Sarkar@rutgers.edu.