Dr. Valentina Sabino honored by The Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust Foundation
The Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust Foundation recently honored Dr. Valentina Sabino for the second time with a grant to research the causes of alcohol addiction. The title of her approved project is “Neurobiological Bases of Alcohol Addiction.”
According to Dr. Sabino, “alcoholism constitutes one of the most serious public health problems worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that about 2 billion people worldwide consume alcoholic beverages, of which 76.3 million have alcohol use disorders. Alcohol is estimated to cause 20%–30% of esophageal cancer, liver cancer and cirrhosis, homicide, seizures, and motor vehicle accidents, causing 3.2% of the total deaths.
This project will systematically explore the role of an understudied receptor system, the Sigma receptors, in genetic and chronic ethanol-induced animal models of alcoholism. The focus will be the Nucleus Accumbens, an important brain region for alcohol and drug addiction, proposed as being the specific region where Sigma receptors mediated neuroplasticity in addicted brains.
These experiments will provide insights into this novel receptor system as a key mechanism involved in excessive drinking and alcohol-seeking behavior and propose a novel therapeutic target for alcohol addiction.”
Dr. Sabino received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2006. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and Department of Psychiatry, and Co-Director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University School of Medicine.
Congratulations, Dr. Sabino!