Overview

Our work has been funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Florida Department of Health, the Byrd Institute, and USF Health, as well as a collaboration with Psilera Bioscience.

Current Funding 

Translational research to elucidate the mechanisms underlying alcohol abuse in circadian desynchrony

The major goal of this study is to understand why adolescents and young adults – who typically have chronically disrupted circadian rhythms – are more likely to abuse alcohol, and to demonstrate proof-of-concept for a translational model between a mouse line and human studies.

Development of New Substituted N, N-Dimethyltryptamines for Treatment of Mental Health and Alcohol Use Disorder

The major goal of this study is to test a spectrum of psilocybin derivatives for their potential as therapeutics for major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder, as well as potential prophylactic treatments for neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.

Previous Funding

Investigating the role of the circadian period genes in modulating the effects of the atypical antipsychotic clozapine on alcohol drinking and preference in alcohol-preferring mouse strains.

The major goals of this study are to examine the effects of mutations in PERIOD 1 and PERIOD 2 circadian genes on alcohol preference and sensitivity.

Development of a murine model of co-occurring schizophrenia and alcohol addiction.

The major goal of this study is to develop a multi-hit model of schizophrenia (using two schizophrenia-associated genes and environmental stress) that voluntarily consumes alcohol, for future testing of drugs that may treat alcoholism in schizophrenia.

Memory Deficits in a Mouse Model of Circadian Dysfunction.

The purpose of this study is to understand how changes in the enzyme GSK3 impacts both memory dysfunction and circadian desynchrony – and whether these two behavioral phenotypes are linked. The outcomes of this study will enable future research targeting circadian desynchrony to rescue learning and memory deficits in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Ck1 delta inhibition to reduce sundowning in Alzheimer's disease

The major goal is this study is to determine whether symptoms of sundowning in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced by correcting circadian dysfunction using a pre-clinical drug that resets the molecular circadian clock, and to provide preliminary data enabling further research in this area.

Guizhi Fuling Wan multiherbal formula to prevent intrauterine growth restriction

The major goal of this study is to use mouse models of IUGR to determine if the common Chinese herbal compound GFW can reduce IUGR by improving fetal programming at the level of the fetal-placental interface.