Revolutionizing Addiction Research: UCLA Faculty Members Selected for Elite Wellcome Leap Initiative

Edythe London and Dara Ghahremani, both faculty members in the UCLA Health Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, have been selected to join an elite group of experts from top universities worldwide to research groundbreaking approaches for diagnosing, treating, and preventing addiction disorders.

Ghahremani and London, who are affiliated with The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, will serve as co-principal investigators in the Wellcome Leap initiative’s Untangling Addiction program. This three-year, $50 million project brings together 13 other collaborating universities and organizations with a goal of developing novel ways to measure addiction risk and progression through biomarkers.

The UCLA team will lead the first large-scale investigation into the habenula, a brain nucleus linked to negative emotions experienced during withdrawal. While studies on animals have shown strong connections between this region and addiction, it has not been adequately studied in humans. By analyzing MRI data from thousands of individuals with problematic alcohol use, the team hopes to determine if similar relationships exist in humans.

According to Ghahremani, “If we find those links, the habenula could be an important therapeutic neural target.” The team proposes using a relatively new noninvasive brain stimulation technique called low-intensity focused ultrasound to temporarily modify habenula function during periods of alcohol withdrawal. This could alleviate symptoms and reduce vulnerability to continued drug use.