New York, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is hosting a free webinar, “What Genetics is Telling Us About Substance Use Disorders” on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at 2:00 pm EST. The presenter will be Sandra Sanchez-Roige, Ph.D. Dr. Sanchez-Roige is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, and the Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is also the recipient of a 2018 BBRF Young Investigator Grant. The webinar will be hosted by Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., President & CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and host of the public television series Healthy Minds.
Register today at BBRFoundation.org
According to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 46.3 million people in the United States had a substance use disorder in the past year. Studying how genetic factors play a role in substance use and misuse can help researchers develop new treatment plans for those with substance use disorders.
Decades of family and twin studies have established that substance use disorders have a familial and heritable component. With the advent of genome-wide association studies, our understanding of the genetic factors influencing substance use and misuse has progressed tremendously; hundreds of locations in the human genome have now been implicated in different aspects of substance use, and the list is expanding each year. Many of these DNA risk variations are shared across other psychiatric and other health disorders, a finding that suggests new ways of defining and potentially treating substance use disorders. This webinar will discuss these findings and some of the key advances that have made them possible, as well as new avenues of research that promise to shed new light on the biology of substance use disorders.
About Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation awards research grants to develop improved treatments, cures, and methods of prevention for mental illness. These illnesses include addiction, ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, and schizophrenia, as well as research on suicide prevention. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $440 million to fund more than 5,300 leading scientists around the world. 100% of every dollar donated for research is invested in research. BBRF operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants. BBRF is the producer of the Emmy® nominated public television series Healthy Minds with Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, which aims to remove the stigma of mental illness and demonstrate that with help, there is hope.
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