Waggoner Center Affiliate Faculty renew INIA Neuroimmune consortium grant

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) renewed funding for the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) Neuroimmune consortium in January 2022. Dr. Messing is now the consortium coordinator, a role previously held by Dr. Adron Harris. Drs. Yuri Blednov & Robert Messing, Dr. Regina Mangieri, and Dr. Dayne Mayfield received funding for their research projects associated with the consortium. The INIA-Neuroimmune consortium is a multi-disciplinary, highly collaborative research consortium focused on studying brain mechanisms of excessive alcohol drinking associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the relationship between excessive drinking, stress, and anxiety. The consortium has identified gene networks and pathways associated with excessive alcohol drinking in humans and animals and focuses on potential drug targets within neuroimmune and neuroinflammatory signaling pathways.  With this renewal, the consortium will investigate the genomics, electrophysiology, and pharmacology of brain immune signaling systems in neurons and glial cells and their role in causes and treatments of alcohol dependence.