Outcome will be a public catalog of functional variants to serve as therapeutic candidates
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana University School of Medicine researchers Howard Edenberg, PhD, IU Distinguished Professor and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Yunlong Liu, PhD, Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics and director of the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, have received a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to identify the function of genetic variants that are associated with substance use disorders.According to the American Addictions Center, approximately 19.7 million Americans ages 12 and older suffer from a substance use disorder, for which there are only a handful of approved treatments. Dr. Edenberg noted that “genetic screens identify large regions that contain thousands of variants, and there is a great need to identify which of those variants actually affect the risk for these disorders.” This research uses cutting-edge genomics technologies called Massively Parallel Reporter Assays (MPRA) to test tens of thousands of variants and identify those that impact gene expression. The functional variants can serve as high priority therapeutic candidates for future studies.
“The results from these experiments will help us identify genes that contribute to risk for addiction, which is important for understanding the disorders and for designing much needed therapeutic strategies for treatment," added Liu.
The outcome of these studies will be the creation of a unique, accessible resource of substance use disorder genetic variants that regulate gene expression in specific brain cell types. An added bonus of this work will be a public catalog of functional genetic variants that can be consulted by researchers studying substance use disorders.
IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability.
Media contact: Christine Drury, cldrury@iu.edu, 317-385-9227 (cell)
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About IU School of Medicine
IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability.