Funded Projects

Many people with opioid use disorder (OUD) also have a serious mental illness and other chronic conditions, which can be difficult for individuals and primary care providers to manage. A chronic disease self-management program is an established health care model in which peers help to educate patients about their condition(s) and build problem-solving skills to manage their health. Such programs have been effective in other populations and settings, but they have not been adapted for primary care patients who have OUD and SMI. This project will adapt and test a chronic disease self-management program for this population to understand its feasibility, acceptability, impact, and how best to put such programs into place widely in primary care settings.

Women with opioid use disorder (OUD) are disproportionately impacted by physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, treatment approaches that address all these conditions together in OUD treatment settings are lacking. To address this gap, this project will evaluate delivery of two evidence-based interventions to address PTSD (Present-Centered Therapy+ and Helping to Overcome PTSD through Empowerment) for women seeking OUD treatment who have experienced intimate partner violence. It will also determine if integrated treatment can help retain the women in medication treatment for OUD.

Cerebral palsy (CP), the leading cause of childhood disabilities in the United States, refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. The experience of pain is one of the most common, poorly understood, and inadequately treated conditions in CP, impairing health and quality of life for both patients and caregivers. To understand why pain and motor dysfunction occur together, a model that accurately replicates both is needed. This project will validate an established, rabbit model of CP motor dysfunction for use in studying and developing effective treatments for CP-associated pain.

Sleep and circadian rhythms are understudied risk factors for opioid use disorder (OUD) and its treatment. Opioids affect sleep quality in a way that can inhibit recovery. The two most effective medications for OUD also cause sleep problems. This project will increase understanding about underlying circadian and behavioral mechanisms, such as changes in craving and/or the ability to regulate emotions, that link poor sleep with suboptimal opioid treatment response outcomes.

Many people in jail have both opioid use disorder (OUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Among people with OUD released from jail, only few engage in treatment and medication therapy once they are back in the community, and opioid overdose is a leading cause of death in this population. This project will test whether identifying and initiating treatment of PTSD in people receiving OUD treatment in jail can increase these individuals’ likelihood of starting and staying in medication treatment after release and thus reduce overdose risk.

Human oral cancer is associated with significant chronic pain, and a comprehensive understanding of the biology and mechanisms underlying this chronic pain is critical for developing better pain management strategies. This project will determine molecular characteristics, including a specific signaling system (endosomal GPCR kinase), associated with chronic oral cancer pain, using tissue samples obtained from patients with this condition. The findings will then be used to inform studies in animal models of human oral cancer pain to enhance understanding how endosomal GPCR kinase contributes to human oral cancer pain.

Cataract surgery is commonly performed in older adults; however, some patients subsequently experience chronic eye pain that is difficult to treat. One promising approach that is effective in some, but not all, patients uses the patient's own serum (a component of blood) as eye drops. This project seeks to identify markers that can help predict which patients will respond to serum treatment and monitor their progress. Using advanced technology and data analysis to evaluate patient histories, questionnaires, and different genetic and other molecular characteristics in the eyes and serum it aims to identify potential markers that can then be tested in a clinical study.

Chronic opioid use has well known effects on sleep quality, including disordered breathing during sleep and other abnormalities related to circadian rhythms. However, little is known about the relationship between sleep-related symptoms and non-medical opioid use among individuals being treated for opioid use disorder. This longitudinal study aims to identify biological pathways that may account for these associations. The research will first determine associations of sleep and proxy measures of circadian rhythms with non-medical opioid use. Second, they will investigate emotional processes associated with sleep/circadian symptoms and opioid treatment outcomes.

People who survive sexual violence are at increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and opioid misuse. Emergency departments are often the first, and in some cases only, contact with the medical care system for survivors of sexual violence. This makes them a suitable setting to initiate interventions to address the risk of PTSD and opioid misuse in these individuals. This project will develop and test a brief, low-cost video and text message intervention that can be initiated in the emergency department to prevent onset or escalation of PTSD and opioid misuse among people who survive sexual violence.

Activation of immune cells (microglia) in the central nervous system and neuroinflammation have emerged as key drivers of neuropathic pain. These processes can be triggered by release of ATP, the compound that provides energy to many biochemical reactions. The source and mechanism of ATP release are poorly understood but could be targets of novel treatment approaches for neuropathic pain. This project will use genetic, pharmacological, and electrophysiological approaches to determine whether a large pore channel called Swell 1 that spans the cell membrane is the source of ATP release and resulting neuropathic pain and thus could be a treatment target.

Chronic low back pain affects millions of people in the United States, resulting in high medical costs and lost productivity. New opioid-free treatments are needed to help people with chronic low back pain, but not all people respond equally to a given approach. IMPACT aims to use machine learning to analyze data such as physical activity, sleep, emotions, and pain levels and identify markers that can help predict how effective a mindfulness-based treatment approach (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) can be for people with chronic low back pain.