{"id":3,"date":"2011-08-11T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T20:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.sites.unc.edu\/alcohol\/about\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T14:41:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T19:41:51","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/alcohol\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- portlet_header --><\/p>\n<p><!-- portlet_above --><\/p>\n<p><!-- description --><\/p>\n<p>UNC&#8217;s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies (BCAS) is one of 20 national Alcohol Research Centers funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). BCAS faculty members conduct groundbreaking scientific research and are invited to speak at national and international conferences, and several have received NIH MERIT and Career Awards.<\/p>\n<p>For more than 35 years, BCAS has been a leader in the search for the <b>causes and prevention <\/b>of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and has worked to <b>improve intervention and treatment for AUD<\/b>. Some of our outstanding contributions include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Neurotensin systems regulate consumption of alcohol and alcohol-mediated physiology and behavior<\/li>\n<li>Opioid exposure dysregulates plasticity and cellular physiology in reward and stress systems<\/li>\n<li>Individual and sex differences in stress reactivity can predict escalations in alcohol drinking<\/li>\n<li>Insular cortex circuitry modulates sensitivity to the interoceptive effects of alcohol.<\/li>\n<li>Endogenous pregnane steroids inhibit inflammatory Toll-like receptor pathways that are up-regulated in AUD and underlie alcohol addiction.<\/li>\n<li>GABAergic mechanisms promote symptoms of ethanol dependence in rat models of alcohol addiction<\/li>\n<li>Adolescent binge drinking leads to persistent changes in adult microglia and astrocytes and contribute to long lasting increases in brain proinflammatory genes<\/li>\n<li>Post-mortem human prefrontal cortex of individuals with AUD have a proinflammatory activated phenotype that may be related to monocyte infiltration to brain.<\/li>\n<li>Discovered the role of primary cilia as one of the central pathogenic mechanisms of alcohol\u2019s effects on the brain and face during early prenatal development.<\/li>\n<li>Discovered numerous genetic factors that modify susceptibility to prenatal alcohol exposure.<\/li>\n<li>Adult blockade of HMGB1 proinflammatory signaling reverses adult alcohol tolerance and neuropathology following adolescent binge ethanol exposure.<\/li>\n<li>Adolescent intermittent stress causes lasting neuroinflammation and loss of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain as well as increases alcohol drinking in adulthood.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Training<\/h2>\n<p>The Center is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to develop the next generation of addiction medicine researchers. Center faculty train future physicians, dentists, pharmacists and researchers in the identification, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse and AUD. Training for our scientists includes programs in basic laboratory science, addiction biology, neuropharmacology, alcohol-related liver disease, alcohol-related birth defects, clinical research, and substance abuse treatment therapy.<\/p>\n<h2>Outreach<\/h2>\n<p>The Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies is dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse, alcohol use disorder, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders through education and advocacy. BCAS faculty developed curricula for NC educators to use in teaching the effects of alcohol. Additionally, faculty serve on state and national organizations involved in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse and abuse-related congenital disorders. Faculty advise state legislators regarding drunk driving laws, treatment for the state prison population, and other substance abuse-related matters.<\/p>\n<p>Educational speakers are available for civic, social and community organizations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><b>Alcohol use disorder, substance abuse, chemical dependence, alcohol-related congenital disorders, and liver and brain damage are preventable diseases.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>To learn more about <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"\/alcohol\/alcohol\/make-a-gift\">how you can support our work<\/a>, please call our center at 919-966-5678 or visit <a href=\"https:\/\/give.unc.edu\/donate?f=303039\">our donations page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNC&#8217;s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies (BCAS) is one of 20 national Alcohol Research Centers funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). BCAS faculty members conduct groundbreaking scientific research and are invited to speak at national and international conferences, and several have received NIH MERIT and Career Awards. For more than &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/alcohol\/about\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about About the Center\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1362,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":19,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-3","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About the Center | Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/alcohol\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About the Center | Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UNC&#8217;s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies (BCAS) is one of 20 national Alcohol Research Centers funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). 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