Funded by NIDA at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 1991, the Center for Neurobiology of Addiction Treatment (CNAT) provides a multidisciplinary mechanism of interaction between investigators and students in the field of drug abuse research. We examine neurobiological mechanisms of cocaine pharmacotherapies, using tightly interacting projects to ensure an effective collaborative structure.
Our center provides a formal structure of collaborative interactions with clinical partners at NIDA-funded clinical centers. In addition, the center provides a focus for the training of students and postdoctoral fellows in contemporary methods for investigating the neurobiological basis of drug abuse. We strive to serve as an information source to both the lay and scientific community on issues related to the neurobiological aspects of drug abuse.
Our Projects
Project 1 – Behavioral Evaluation of Novel Pharmacotherapies
Examining effects of drug treatment on various behavioral models in both rats and monkeys.
Project 2 – Brain Function Evaluation of Novel Pharmacotherapies
Exploring how drug treatment paradigms from Project 1 affect functional consequences in brain through neuro-imaging and voltammetry.
Project 3 – Molecular / Biochemical Evaluation of Novel Pharmacotherapies
Exploring how drug treatments from Project 1 affect gene and protein expression, receptor function and signal transduction systems in brain tissue obtained from the other projects.