Category: News

“The part of the brain that is doing most of the heavy lifting to encode new memory is called the hippocampus,” said Scott Swartzwelder, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University. “It’s a structure that happens to be very, very sensitive to alcohol.”

Neurotensin and Dynorphin Bi-Directionally Modulates CeA Inhibition of oval BNST Neurons in Male Mice (in press at Neuropharmacology, authors are Catherine P Normandeau, Maria Luisa Torruella Suarez, Philippe Sarret, Zoe McElligott*, Eric C Dumont*, *co-senior author ) Stress-induced alterations of norepinephrine release in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of mice (in press at ACS Chemical Neuroscience, authors are Karl T Schmidt, Viren H Makhijani, Kristen...

Drs. Joyce Besheer and Scott Parnell received a two-year grant from NIAAA titled “Consequences of prenatal alcohol and cannabinoid co-exposure on alcohol self-administration in adolescence”. These studies will investigate the lasting impact of prenatal alcohol and synthetic cannabinoid exposure on alcohol drinking in the adolescent offspring.

Dr. Joyce Besheer received a Diversity Supplement from NIAAA to support the postdoctoral training of Dr. Laura Ornelas. Dr. Ornelas will be investigating the neural mechanisms that underlie the effects of trauma exposure on relapse to alcohol drinking in an animal model.

Viren Makhijani, a graduate student in the Dr. Joyce Besheer’s lab at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, received an NRSA from the NIAAA titled “The mineralocorticoid receptor as a potential bridge between traumatic stress and increased alcohol consumption.” His work will examine the consequences of traumatic stress exposure on...

Dr. Fulton Crews won the Marlatt Mentorship Award at the Research Society of Alcoholism Conference  on June 20, 2018 . The award recognizes an individual whose mentoring of young researchers in the alcohol research field is demonstrated to be exceptional. Dr. Crews was honored for exceptional mentoring of successful post-docs...

Drs. Zoe McElligott and Melissa Herman each received highly competitive travel awards to the 2018 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting in Hollywood, Florida.          

Brennon, a postdoc in the McElligott lab at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, received a pilot award from the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute entitled “Examining Brain Activation Following Morphine Withdrawal” to investigate whole brain changes in neuron activation following a withdrawal-centered model of opioid use disorder. 

María Luisa, a graduate student in the the McElligott lab at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, received an NRSA from the NIAAA entitled “Examining Alcohol Induced Plasticity in Amygdala Hind Brain Circuits.” She will work to determine whether a history of alcohol consumption in mice can alter the behavioral...

BCAS congratulates Dr. Tamara J. Phillips for winning the 2018 Bowles Lectureship Award.  The Bowles Award is given annually to honor a distinguished researcher who has made significant contributions to our understanding of the causes, prevention and/or treatment of alcoholism and alcohol abuse. Her remarkable research discoveries on the genetic...