Funds will support a National Institute on Drug Abuse P30 Core Center of Excellence.

UC San Diego School of Medicine has received a five-year, $8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study the genetics of substance use disorders. The grant will support a NIDA P30 Core Center of Excellence, which aims to understand why some people are more susceptible to addiction than others.

Results from the study will be used to develop more personalized and effective treatments for substance use disorders, which affect tens of millions of Americans at an enormous cost to the US economy, according to a UCSD press release.

Some people who drink alcohol or try illicit substances become addicted to these drugs, but most do not, according to principal investigator Abraham Palmer, UCSD School of Medicine Psychiatry Department professor.

“And that vulnerability is partially genetic,” Palmer said. “We’re very interested to know: what are the genetic differences between people who develop substance use disorders and those who do not?”

Using heterogeneous stock rats as a model organism, the P30 center will build upon 10 years of NIDA-supported research mapping the relationship between HS rat genotypes and complex behavioral traits.

UCSD researchers have already found that inhibiting a certain enzyme’s activity using a molecule called pBBG reversed the drug-seeking behavior of rats who had previously shown a preference for cocaine.

Based on these findings, the researchers believe the gene Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1), which codes for the enzyme, could be a promising target for the development of new therapeutic compounds to treat substance use disorders in humans. And Glo1 is just one of many genes the center is investigating as potential drug targets. 

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