Camron Bryant
Northeastern University, MA·Genetics
Addiction to cocaine and opioids runs strongly in families, yet large human genetic studies have found very few of the genes responsible. These projects use rodents to find those genes faster.
- Fields
Genetics
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
- Topics
addiction
substance use disorder
cocaine
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Sequence the whole genomes of SHR/NCrl and SHR/NHsd rat substrains and map behavioral QTLs for impulsivity, compulsivity, and cocaine self-administration traits in an F2 reduced complexity cross.
- Map expression QTLs, DNA regions that control gene activity, in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex of cocaine-trained versus saline-trained F2 rats, at both whole-transcript and exon levels.
- Use proteomic analysis of the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens to link DNA variants to protein and cell-signaling changes, narrowing candidate genes for cocaine use traits.
- Map QTLs and brain expression QTLs underlying oxycodone reward, withdrawal, and weight loss in an F2 cross between BALB/c mouse substrains.
- Use single nucleus RNA sequencing to find the brain cell types and gene networks that adapt after low-dose and repeated high-dose oxycodone.
- Validate candidate DNA variants with CRISPR/Cas9 editing on each BALB/c substrain background, testing whether each variant is necessary and sufficient for oxycodone traits.
More about the research
They rely on reduced complexity crosses (RCCs), which breed together two substrains, closely related inbred lines that are more than 99% genetically identical. Because the two parents differ at so few DNA positions, any behavioral difference between them points to a small set of candidate genes. Mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs), regions of the genome linked to a measurable trait, in these crosses is then combined with gene-activity and protein data from the brain to pinpoint causal genes and variants.
Why it matters
Cocaine and other stimulant use disorders have no FDA-approved treatments, and opioid dependence causes tens of thousands of deaths each year in the United States. By identifying genes, DNA variants, and brain cell adaptations behind addiction risk and drug responses, this work could point to biological pathways and targets for new therapies. Its shared genomic and protein datasets may also help other addiction researchers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marianne Seney
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Neuroscience
Determine whether somatostatin-expressing neurons in human prefrontal cortex show pronounced transcriptional changes in people with opioid use disorder who also used nicotine, using postmortem brain tissue.
Jared Bagley
Binghamton University, NY·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test whether mouse strains genetically predisposed to extreme cocaine self-administration differ in baseline and acute cocaine-evoked dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell, measured with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry.
Wendy Lynch
University of Virginia, VA·Neuroscience
Determine how doses of inhibitory and excitatory low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) applied to the rat dorsomedial prefrontal cortex change markers of neuronal activity and dopamine and glutamate signaling during early and late opioid withdrawal.
The school
Northeastern University: 27 labs on PI Pages, $347M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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