On January 1, 1999, the Center for the Neurobehavioral Study of Alcohol (CNSA) was founded at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The Center is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health. Our Center Director is Dr. David P. Friedman and Scientific Director is Dr. Jeff Weiner.
The Center’s focus is to provide an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to study the risk for and neurobiological consequences of excessive ethanol self-administration. Advances in our understanding of the primary factors that establish, maintain, and are consequences of excessive alcohol self-administration are greatly enhanced by the use of appropriate animal models. A primary strength of the Center for the Neurobehavioral Study of Alcohol (CNSA) is in developing and utilizing animal models of alcohol abuse and alcoholism to identify neurobiological factors as targets for prevention, harm reduction or treatment strategies related to the course of alcoholism.
The CNSA has as its primary research aim the characterization of integrated neural systems and mechanisms that are involved in excessive ethanol self-administration. We hypothesize that aspects of cognitive behavior and temperament, ethanol related-changes in behavior, and alterations in physiological outcomes of menstrual cycle and cardiac signal deregulation will correlate with neurobiological changes in integrated neural systems. Therefore, by employing a multi-disciplinary approach, consisting of molecular, cellular, systems and behavioral levels of analysis, specific brain circuits involved in excessive ethanol self-administration will be better defined and possible cellular actions of ethanol within these circuits will be determined. A second aim of the Center is to disseminate research information. To assure the future supply of young scientists interested in studying alcohol, we currently have a Pre- and Post-Doctoral training program funding by NIAAA. The entire proposed faculty of CNSA is active members in this training program. In addition, we push our students and post-doctoral fellows to seek extramural support and we have been successful in generating a variety of individual NRSA training awards for these students. Minority supplements to ongoing programs have been and continue to be sought for Center faculty R01 grants.
The CNSA is also part of a North Carolina based effort for training of minority institution students in cardiovascular science and substance abuse, and we have ongoing training links with Winston-Salem State University and North Carolina Central, both Historically Black Universities. Several Center faculty members teach subjects related to alcohol abuse and alcoholism to both medical and graduate students. As part of the CNSA, a series of lectures and seminars at the scientific and lay level are planned to disseminate the latest information on the biological basis of excessive alcohol self-administration. Moreover, our faculty organizes and participates in the Addiction Studies Program for Journalists, which runs two-three workshops each year to teach the scientific basis of addiction to journalists working in both print and broadcast media.
Center for the Neurobehavioral Study of Alcohol
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Medical Center Boulevard
Winston Salem, North Carolina 27157-1083
Diane Joyner, Administrative Assistant
djjoyner@wfubmc.edu
336-713-7161 phone
336-713-7168 fax