A precise, new nanotechnology treatment for drug addiction may be on the horizon as the result of research conducted at the University at Buffalo. Scientists in UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics and UB’s Department of Medicine have developed a stable nanoparticle that delivers short RNA molecules in the brain to “silence” or turn off a gene that plays a critical role in many kinds of drug addiction.
The UB team’s in vitro findings were published online the week of March 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [continue reading…]
A receptor for glutamate, the most prominent neurotransmitter in the brain, plays a key role in the process of “unlearning,” report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, could eventually help scientists develop new drug therapies to treat a variety of disorders, including phobias and anxiety disorders, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Most studies focus on ‘learning,’ but the ‘unlearning’ process is probably just as important and much less understood,” says Stephen F. Heinemann, Ph.D., a professor in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, who led the study. “Most people agree that failure to ‘unlearn’ is a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorders and if we had a drug that affects this gene it could help soldiers coming back from the war to ‘unlearn’ their fear memories.” [continue reading…]
From spilling a cup of coffee to failing to notice a stop sign, everyone makes an occasional error due to lack of attention. Now a team led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis, in collaboration with the Donders Institute in the Netherlands, has found a distinct electric signature in the brain which predicts that such an error is about to be made. [continue reading…]
Author and journalist David Sheff discusses his bestselling book Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
His son Nic Sheff discusses his memoir,Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetaminesthe compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
, the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery. 