Vanderbilt Alcohol Use Disorder Education and Discovery Center
Vanderbilt AUD Research and Education Center (VAREC)
This center aims to understand different forms of alcohol use disorder and how brain circuits change during abstinence to help people with AUD.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Vanderbilt University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Nashville, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11395406 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From your perspective, researchers will use detailed brain imaging in people with alcohol use disorder to map how specific brain networks change across periods of abstinence and how those changes relate to symptoms like anxiety and depression. They will recreate those human brain-circuit patterns in mice to study the underlying biology and to test timing-specific treatment ideas. The center brings together four research projects plus administrative, research, and dissemination cores to share findings and move toward new therapies. The goal is to connect what is seen in people to experiments in animals so treatments can be more precisely targeted.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates would be people with alcohol use disorder, particularly those in early or sustained abstinence or who experience anxiety or depression alongside AUD.
Not a fit: People without alcohol use disorder, those unwilling to undergo brain imaging or study procedures, or those whose condition does not involve the specific brain circuits studied may not receive direct benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to more precise, circuit-targeted treatments and better timing of interventions for people recovering from alcohol use disorder.
How similar studies have performed: Previous brain-imaging and animal-model work has linked neural circuits to AUD symptoms, but pairing deep human imaging with reverse-translational mouse testing to guide time-sensitive therapies is a relatively new and evolving approach.
Where this research is happening
Nashville, UNITED STATES
- Vanderbilt University — Nashville, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Calipari, Erin — Vanderbilt University
- Study coordinator: Calipari, Erin
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.