Behavioral Pharmacology and Genetics: Translating and Targeting Individual Differences (R03)

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-Purpose. Individual differences in response to drugs of abuse may confer vulnerability or resistance to drug abuse or the development of addiction. Several lines of evidence indicate that genetic variation contributes to drug abuse and addiction as well as to the propensity to use specific classes of drugs, such as psychostimulants, opiates, marijuana and nicotine. Recently developed genetic methodologies make it possible to better understand drug abuse phenotypes in terms of underlying genetic factors. This FOA seeks applications that use controlled, human laboratory-based experimental techniques for the measurement of behavior, combined with genetic analyses, to study drug abuse phenotypes and/or endophenotypes, and their relationship to (a) individual differences in response to drugs of abuse; (b) individual differences in the consequences of repeated abuse; or (c) pharmacogenetic differences in response to putative or currently used pharmacotherapeutic agents for treating addiction. Research in these areas may identify genetic variations that will help define the biochemical mechanisms underlying drug effects and the associated biological and/or behavioral processes responsible for individual differences, and may suggest genetically targeted pharmacotherapeutic approaches for treating addiction. -Mechanism of Support. This FOA will utilize the R03 grant mechanism to support projects including pilot and feasibility studies; small, self-contained research projects; and to foster the establishment of new research collaborations between geneticists and drug abuse researchers. As the R03 is intended to support small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources, it is intended that, with the use of this mechanism, investigators and collaborative research groups will be able to conduct initial pilot and feasibility studies to better position them for a subsequent R01 application.

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