Let’s say you are looking at a large pile of pictures of dogs (plain ole’ dogs), cats (plain ole’ cats), elephants, and donkeys. You must sort the pictures into two groups. Most (?) of us would put the dogs and cats together (pets/domesticated), resulting in the forced grouping of the elephants and donkeys. [HEHEH-Who KNEW?] What if you were shown familiar pictures of scientists, politicians, and criminals and told to sort them into two groups? I daresay that MANY of us would automatically throw the criminals and politicians together, leaving the scientists standing independently (and unscathed). Ignore the truths that scientists and criminals are not wholly separate groups and that criminals and politicians are not entirely overlapping. In fact, there’s notable interdependence between we who “do” science and they that “do” politics. Reconciling that fact is tough- “we” don’t want to be tagged as “politicians” with their penchant for soliloquy & hair products and “they” (probably) don’t want to carry the stereotype of the pedantic partygoer stepping out of a Ford Fairlane, oblivious to the red ink flowing out of their pocket protector. Unrelated to a wardrobe faux pas or a partiality for ABBA lyrics, public support for science has wavered. While there is plenty of justification for casting aspersions on “them”. We must own the fact that, “we” are generally loath to engage those who reek of “politics”. Actively engaging the “political” side of doing science is awkward and may produce NOTHING. But doing NOTHING (or little to nothing) isn’t working. Signing a letter template or adding our names to a list of hundreds isn’t sufficient. We must engage more directly. An email/ letter is a WHOLE lot less threatening, but meeting them in their offices and inviting them (SINCERELY) to tour our labs is a WHOLE lot more compelling. It feels risky and they might decline (maybe rudely). That’s okay, vote for the other one next time….

In other news (thank goodness), there’s a lot of Center news to report. As you scroll through the newsletter, celebrate the achievements of affiliate and faculty members. Also, help us welcome new members to our Community Advisory Committee and congratulate our returning member, Dr. McNealy in her reelection to the School Board. Finally, take note of upcoming programming including a SAVE THE DATE and KEYNOTE speaker announcement for the 12th Annual Symposium in April!

It's going to be a great year—Thanks to you!
SJN

P.S. Given the stereotypes, isn’t it ironic that we address elected officials as “The Honorable”? …Hum…

Dr. Jay McLaughlin (MPI, COP, Pharmacodynamics) received an R01 from NIDA, entitled “Efficacy and signaling modulation by targeting the sodium site at mu opioid receptor”. Dr. McLaughlin is also a Co-I on an R01 from NIDA entitled “Molecular mechanisms: Dysregulation of monoamine transporters by HIV-1 Tat and cocaine".

Dr. Lindsey Rodriguez (MPI, CLAS, Psychology) received an R34 from NIAAA entitled "Using Ecological Momentary Data to Inform a Web-intervention for Romantic Partners Concerned about Their Loved Ones’ Drinking". 

Dr. Barry Setlow (PI, COM, Psychiatry) was awarded a grant from the Consortium for Medical Marijuana Research to evaluate how cannabinoid vapor affects cognition in advanced age. 

Dr. Brandon Warren (PI, COP, Pharmacodynamics) was awarded an R01 from NIDA, entitled "The role of neuronal ensemble Rac1 activity in cocaine seeking behavior."

Sabrina Zequeira, PhD student (COM, Neuroscience, Bizon/Setlow lab) received a fellowship from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) to study the effects of THC on brain metabolism.   

Al Faysal, J., Noor-E-Alam, M., Young, G. J., Lo-Ciganic, W. H., Goodin, A. J., Huang, J. L., Wilson, D. L., Park, T. W., & Hasan, M. M. (2024). An explainable machine learning framework for predicting the risk of buprenorphine treatment discontinuation for opioid use disorder among commercially insured individuals. Computers in biology and medicine, 177, 108493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108493

Black, N., Chung, S., Tisdale, C., Fialho, L. S., Aramrattana, A., Assanangkornchai, S., Blaszczynski, A., Bowden-Jones, H., van den Brink, W., Brown, A., Brown, Q. L., Cottler, L. B., Elsasser, M., Ferri, M., Florence, M., Gueorguieva, R., Hampton, R., Hudson, S., Kelly, P. J., Lintzeris, N., … Farrell, M. (2024). An International, Multidisciplinary Consensus Set of Patient-Centered Outcome Measures for Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders. Journal of clinical medicine, 13(7), 2154. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13072154

Bruzelius, E., Palamar, J. J., Fitzgerald, N. D., Cottler, L. B., Carr, T. C., & Martins, S. S. (2024). Law enforcement fentanyl seizures and overdose mortality in US counties, 2013-2020. Drug and alcohol dependence, 262, 111400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111400

Delaney, J., Nathani, S., Tan, V., Chavez, C., Orr, A., Paek, J., Faraji, M., Setlow, B., & Urs, N. M. (2024). Enhanced cognitive flexibility and phasic striatal dopamine dynamics in a mouse model of low striatal tonic dopamine. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 49(10), 1600–1608. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01868-5

Falise, A. M., Li, Z., Huggins-Manley, A. C., Lopez-Quintero, C., Cottler, L. B., & Striley, C. W. (2024). Age-related Psychometric Dimensionality Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition Opioid Use Disorder Diagnostic Criteria. Journal of addiction medicine, 10.1097/ADM.0000000000001343. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000001343

Fitzgerald, N. D., Cottler, L. B., & Palamar, J. J. (2024). Public health surveillance of new psychoactive substances: recent developments. Current opinion in psychiatry, 37(4), 270–276. https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0000000000000938

Fitzgerald, N. D., Liu, Y., Wang, A., Striley, C. W., Setlow, B., Knackstedt, L., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). Sequencing hour-level temporal patterns of polysubstance use among persons who use cocaine, alcohol, and cannabis: A back-translational approach. Drug and alcohol dependence, 258, 111272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111272

Galpayage Dona, K., Benmassaoud, M., Gipson, C., McLaughlin, J., Ramirez, S. & Andrews, A. (2024). Something to talk about; crosstalk disruption at the neurovascular unit during HIV infection of the CNS. NeuroImmune Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 3(2), 97-111. https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2024-0003 

Hone, L. S. E., Boness, C. L., Helle,  A. C., Kilmer, J. R., Morgan-Daniel, J., Chance, S. M., Rohleen, T. K., & Cronce, J. M. (2024). A Scoping Review of Interventions for U.S. College Students’ Harmful Cannabis Use and a Call for a College Cannabis Intervention Matrix. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-024-01361-6

Moran, J. B., Wang, W., Testa, M., & Hone, L. S. E. (2024). The Relationship Between Men's Sociosexuality, Drinking Intake, and Blackouts. Substance use & misuse, 59(11), 1565–1573. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2352097

O'Brien, E. S., Rangari, V. A., El Daibani, A., Eans, S. O., Hammond, H. R., White, E., Wang, H., Shiimura, Y., Krishna Kumar, K., Jiang, Q., Appourchaux, K., Huang, W., Zhang, C., Kennedy, B. J., Mathiesen, J. M., Che, T., McLaughlin, J. P., Majumdar, S., & Kobilka, B. K. (2024). A µ-opioid receptor modulator that works cooperatively with naloxone. Nature, 631(8021), 686–693. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07587-7
***Work selected for commentary: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02133-x 
***Work selected for UF and UF COP press releases: https://news.ufl.edu/2024/07/fentanyl-overdose-treatment/

Ople, R. S., Ramos-Gonzalez, N., Li, Q., Sobecks, B. L., Aydin, D., Powers, A. S., Faouzi, A., Polanco, B. J., Bernhard, S. M., Appourchaux, K., Sribhashyam, S., Eans, S. O., Tsai, B. A., Dror, R. O., Varga, B.R., Wang, H., Huttenhain, R., McLaughlin, J. P., Majumdar, S. (In Press). Signaling modulation mediated by ligand water interactions with sodium site at μOR. ACS Central Science as oc-2024-0525r.R3. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.4c00525.
***Work selected for commentary: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.4c01105
***Work selected for ACS and UF COP press releases: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2024/july/designing-safer-opioids.html

Otufowora, A., Egan, K. L., Chaudhari, P. V., Okusanya, A. A., Ogidan, A. O., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). Drug Deactivation Pouches for Primary Prevention of Opioid Overdose: Perceptions and Attitudes of Community Members. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, 37(1), 112–117. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2023.230227R1

Otufowora, A., Liu, Y., Okusanya, A., Ogidan, A., Okusanya, A., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). The Effect of Veteran Status and Chronic Pain on Past 30-Day Sedative Use Among Community-Dwelling Adult Males. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, 37(1), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2023.230226R2

Palamar, J. J., Fitzgerald, N., Carr, T. H., Cottler, L. B., & Ciccarone, D. (2024). National and regional trends in fentanyl seizures in the United States, 2017-2023. The International journal on drug policy, 104417. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104417

Palamar, J. J., Fitzgerald, N. D., Carr, T. H., Rutherford, C., Keyes, K. M., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). National and regional trends in seizures of shrooms (psilocybin) in the United States, 2017-2022. Drug and alcohol dependence, 258, 111086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111086

Won, N. Y., Jabot, B., Wang, A., Palamar, J. J., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). Willingness to provide a hair sample for drug testing: results from an anonymous multi-city intercept survey. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 50(2), 261–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2024.2309654

Won, N. Y., McCabe, A. J., & Cottler, L. B. (2024). Alcohol-related non-fatal motor vehicle crash injury in the US from 2019 to 2022. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 50(2), 252–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2024.2309336