TRAC Translational Research in Addiction Center

The Translational Research in Addiction Center (TRAC) is funded by a four year, $3 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  The initiative is a part of the larger goal of the NIH to develop research centers that can bridge the gap between basic preclinical science and clinical research. 

The TRAC is focused on the clinical neurobiology of methamphetamine dependence.  Methamphetamine abuse and dependence has rapidly become a major health problem throughout the United States.  However, basic and clinical understanding of the neurobiology and treatment of methamphetamine addiction has lagged behind research on other drugs of abuse.

The TRAC, the first such program like it in the nation, is directed by Ronald E. See, Ph.D. (Department of Neurosciences).  Co-investigators include Peter W. Kalivas, Ph.D. (Department of Neurosciences), Robert Malcolm, M.D. (Department of Psychiatry), and Kathleen T. Brady, M.D.,Ph.D. (Department of Psychiatry).

The TRAC employs an animal model of relapse in conjunction with a clinical laboratory and brain imaging center in an innovative collaboration designed to directly test hypotheses derived from the animal model in human subjects.  In turn, information derived from methamphetamine-dependent subjects in the clinical laboratory will inform and guide new directions in the animal model.  Importantly, neurobiological information gained from the projects will be used to develop novel therapies that will be effective in treating methamphetamine addiction and reducing the individual and public health consequences of this devastating illness.