Symposium 6: Neuropharmacological Frontiers: Transformational addiction therapeutics
Tracks
Track 2
| Tuesday, December 3, 2024 |
| 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM |
| Eureka Room 2 |
Details
Abused drugs account for ~355 million years of healthy life lost worldwide (2022; U.N. World Drug Report). Rising overdoses align with the prevalence of substance use disorders (SUDs) with the U.S., Canada, and Australia logging the highest SUD rates (2.2-3.4% pop). Specific drug actions in brain are perceived as rewarding, but continued abuse can blossom into critical dysfunction in neurobiological processing of reward, emotion, and cognition. Despite the criticality of this worldwide problem, few marketed therapeutic medications have emerged for SUDs. Those available for opioid use disorder (e.g., methadone) carry risk for misuse while medications for psychostimulant use disorder are an unmet need. This panel focuses on contemporary advances in knowledge of brain pathogenesis associated with abused opioids and psychostimulants that premise new medication opportunities. This panel will elucidate and interface novel pharmacology, precise behavioural methodologies and specific brain circuitry engaged in SUDs. Four panelists will discuss mechanistic advances which support the future potential of novel small molecules and peptides with unique pharmacological actions for mitigating relapse vulnerability in SUDs.
Speaker
Dr Kathryn Cunningham
Professor And Director
University of Texas Medical Branch
Innovative 5-HT2A Receptor Potentiators with Distinct Pharmacological Profiles vs. Psychedelic 5-HT2AR Agonists for Pharmacotherapy of Psychostimulant Use Disorder
11:15 AM - 11:45 AMBiography
Dr. Cunningham has catalyzed translational research advances in neuropsychopharmacology with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms underlying substance use disorders (SUDs), and small molecule discovery in GPCR targets for therapeutics. Her research has been continuously funded by NIH and foundations, and she has published 180+ manuscripts. She has life-long commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion as a driver of excellence in science and has been recognized with the ASPET-Astellas Award for Translational Pharmacology, the Marian W. Fischman Memorial Award, the Paul Vanhoutte Award for Excellence in Science, and the University of Texas STARs Award. She is an active educator and board member for community organizations and fosters awareness and knowledge of diagnosis and treatment for SUDs and mental health disorders.
Prof Elena Bagley
Sydney Pharmacy School and Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney
Opioid Withdrawal Contributes to the Development of Compulsive Drug Use: Prospects for New Pharmacotherapeutics in Opioid Use Disorder
11:45 AM - 12:15 PMBiography
Professor Bagley completed a PhD at The University of Sydney in 2001. She was a C.J Martin Fellow from 2001 to 2006. During this time she was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Gary Westbrook at the Vollum Institute (Oregon, USA) and at the Pain Management Research Institute (University of Sydney). Professor Bagley's established her research laboratory in the Brain and Mind Institute (2010-2011), moved to Pharmacology in 2011 and Sydney Pharmacy School in 2021 and has a laboratory in the Charles Perkins Centre.
Her laboratory primarily focuses on synapses, which are the point of communication between brain cells and is interested in normal synaptic function and synapse dysfunction. Synaptic dysfunction is emerging as a key player in many brain disorders. Of particular interest are the synaptic changes or plasticity that may be responsible for chronic pain states, addiction and anxiety disorders and the role that endogenous opioids may play in these diseases.
Prof John Neumaier
University of Washington
The Promise of FKBP51 Antagonists to Mitigate Opioid Relapse Vulnerability
12:15 PM - 12:45 PMBiography
John F. Neumaier, M.D., Ph.D. graduated from Reed College and then completed his medical and doctoral degrees at the University of Washington. After completing his residency in Psychiatry at the University of Washington, he joined their faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1994. He is currently Joint Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, and Head of the Division of Psychiatric Neurosciences. In 2020 he became Director of Mental Health Research at the Puget Sound VA Medical Center. He is the president of the International Society for Serotonin Research. Dr. Neumaier's research focuses on the study of complex emotional behaviors involving learning, motivation, and stress responses and he uses a variety of molecular, pharmacological, and behavioral strategies in rodent models of stress, reward mechanisms, and drug withdrawal. In addition to research, Dr. Neumaier practices psychiatry and focuses on treatment resistant mood disorders using psychopharmacology, behavioral interventions, and neuromodulation.
Dr Yue Li
Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University
Serotonin Modulation of Transition to Compulsive Cocaine Intake: Implications for Therapeutics
12:45 PM - 1:15 PMBiography
Yue Li graduated from her PhD project at Zhejiang University in 2017. From 2018 to 2022, Yue worked as a postdoc at University of Geneve under the supervision of Christian Luscher. In December 2022, Yue joined the Institutes of Brain Science at Fudan University as principal investigator. Yue Li’s lab focuses on how serotonin modulates synaptic plasticity and shapes behavior.
Chair
Elena Bagley
Sydney Pharmacy School and Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney
Kathryn Cunningham
Professor And Director
University of Texas Medical Branch
