Merideth A. Addicott
Wake Forest University, NC·Neuroscience
Nicotine and alcohol change the brain, and many people try to cut back or quit. This research asks what happens to the brain when they do, and whether targeted brain stimulation can help.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
- Topics
electronic cigarettes
e-cigarettes
vaping
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Mar 2030
What they work on
- Compare gray matter volume, white matter integrity, cerebral blood flow and cognitive performance among ex-smokers who quit, ex-smokers who switched to e-cigarettes, current smokers and never-smokers.
- Relate DNA methylation at the AHRR site, a marker of how heavily and how long someone smoked, to brain, cognitive and physiological measures such as inflammation and autonomic function in long-term e-cigarette users and ex-smokers.
- Test whether real versus sham TMS to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which regulates craving responses to alcohol cues, increases abstinence and reduces heavy drinking in outpatients with alcohol use disorder.
- Test whether TMS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region for executive control, improves drinking outcomes over four months in a double-blind randomized trial within intensive outpatient treatment.
More about the research
One project compares the brain health of former smokers who switched to electronic cigarettes with those who quit completely. A second project tests magnetic brain stimulation as an add-on treatment for alcohol use disorder.
Why it matters
Smokers are increasingly urged to switch to e-cigarettes. This work could tell them, their clinicians and public health agencies whether long-term vaping is actually safer for the brain than quitting. For people with alcohol use disorder, the trial could show which brain stimulation target best improves abstinence and reduces heavy drinking. This could support a non-drug treatment option alongside behavioral therapy.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Elias Klemperer
University of Vermont, VT·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether very low nicotine content cigarettes reduce cigarettes smoked per day and cigarette dependence among adult dual users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes, in a 12-week double-blind randomized trial.
Paul Laurienti
Wake Forest University, NC·Neuroscience
Determine how nicotine vaping changes brain structure, function, blood flow and connectivity in adolescents, imaging 360 current vapers and never tobacco users twice, 18 months apart.
Jason D Robinson
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Compare quit rates after six weeks of varenicline versus dual nicotine replacement therapy (patch plus lozenge) among 2,000 Texas smokers in a virtually delivered SMART trial, confirming abstinence by breath carbon monoxide.
The school
Wake Forest University: 27 labs on PI Pages, $345M a year on research, 54 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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