Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The stimulus package has been flowing into the University through grants for research this year with the running total reaching almost $1 million. One of the research studies funded will look at how marijuana affects the brain.
A research program, run by Gonzalo Carrasco, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology, is studying the effects of cannabinoids, or marijuana, on the brain’s ability to produce serotonin, a hormone that alters a person’s mood. A grant from the National Institute of Health provides funding for the research, and the money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress this year.
Some of the study will be conducted in vitre, or cell cultures, and the rest will be in vivo, or lab rats. Cannabinoids will be administered to lab rats for a set period of time. The rats will then be forced into withdrawal, during which Carrasco will look at their brains’ production of serotonin. Serotonin regulates mood and plays a major role in several mood disorders including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. Carrasco wants to use his research to see how to better treat withdrawal from marijuana to reduce craving and relapse.
Carrasco said there had not been any mass research on the withdrawal symptoms of cannabinoids. He has already had experience studying withdrawal from cocaine at the University.
“This is the age of cannabinoids,” Carrasco said. “I’m excited about it. I really want to study the effects. It’s a completely new idea.”
Carrasco received $73,208 for one year of research. He will receive twice that, nearly $150,000, for the entire two years of research.
“The funding is important to me; it partially supports a technician to work in the lab with me,” Carrasco said. “We buy expensive chemicals. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the support.”
The allocations from the stimulus package are designed to increase employment. Kevin Boatright, director of communications for research and graduate studies, said that the funding was designed to permit the hiring of new people relatively quickly and that in certain cases the funding was available right now.
“The federal government had money, and a sense of urgency was there,” Boatright said. “It was seen as opportunity for research universities, such as KU, to receive funding rather quickly especially where we have people and facilities that could do what the federal government was looking for.”
The running total of awards the University has received as of this year is $948,000. Carrasco’s $74,000 grant is part of that $948,000.
Joan Sereno, professor of linguistics, is another grant recipient. Her research project received $284,641 from the National Science Foundation to find new strategies to teach English as a second language.
“Of these grants, they sometimes think that it’s only between 5 and 10 percent that are funded,” Sereno said. “It used to be around, people thought, maybe 15 or 20 percent but as time has gone on it’s actually been cut back; it’s an extremely competitive contest.”
As of May, the University had turned in 110 grant proposals for research, which are reviewed by a panel at either the NIH or NSF. If approved, an award is sent out. If rejected, there will be a chance for revision. The University will learn the status of most of the grant requests during the fall semester.
Boatright said the University did well when applying for grants — it received 85 percent of all NIH funding in the state in a typical year. Still, not all funding requests are approved.
— — Edited by David Ugarte
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