Research

Understanding Vulnerability to Cannabis Use Disorder

Cannabis use disorder impacts 10-30% of regular users and currently has no available treatments. The Ferland lab uses multidisciplinary techniques including translational animal models, next generation sequencing, computational approaches, and in vivo recording and manipulations to investigate factors that shape CUD risk from adolescence to adulthood.

Developmental Origins of Cannabis Use Disorder

Cannabis use during adolescence, a critical period of brain maturation, increases risk for developing cannabis use disorder (CUD). Beyond compulsive use, CUD involves disruptions in cognitive control and decision-making processes that govern cost-benefit evaluation. Using translational rodent models, we investigate how individual vulnerability and adolescent THC exposure alter the mechanisms underlying these critical cognitive outcomes.

Non-Neuronal Mechanisms

Our research has revealed that non-neuronal cell-types like astrocytes play a critical role in addiction-related phenotypes. Our current work centers on how glia and other non-neuronal mechanisms contribute to cognition, affect, and drug taking.

Epigenetic Regulation of THC Consumption

Epigenetic mechanisms regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. These often stable changes can create vulnerability to environmental factors such as drug exposure. Our work examines how differences in chromatin accessibility shape the development of CUD-like behaviors, from transcriptional regulation to cellular function.

Funding

K01 DA059689

DP1 DA063522

Yale Proteomics Pilot Grant