Lab Presence at SFN 2023: Showcasing Addiction Biobanks

In collaboration with the Preclinical Addiction Research Consortium (PARC) at UCSD, we participated  in the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) 2023 annual meeting. At the conference, we hosted a booth to showcase our work on the Addiction Biobanks, which focus on samples from rats characterized for their addiction like behaviors for oxycodone, cocaine, and alcohol. These biobanks have been created as part of tree ongoing large-scale behavioral genetic studies in heterogeneous stock (HS) rats, using well-validated long access (LgA) models of intravenous cocaine and oxycodone self-administration (SA), chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) vapor exposure as well as comprehensive characterization of addiction-related behaviors.

The rat oxycodone, cocaine, and alcohol biobanks contain samples that vary by genotypes, phenotypes, timepoints, samples collected, preservation methods, and applications. The genetic diversity in HS rats mimics diversity in the human population and includes individuals that are vulnerable or resilient to compulsive-like responding for cocaine, oxycodone, or alcohol. Longitudinal samples are collected throughout the experiment, before exposure to the drug, during intoxication, acute withdrawal, and protracted abstinence, and include naive, age-matched controls.

Samples available in the biobanks include, but are not limited to, blood plasma, feces and urine, whole brains, brain slices and punches, kidney, liver, spleen, ovary, testis, and adrenal glands. Three preservation methods (fixed in formaldehyde, snap-frozen, or cryopreserved) are used to facilitate diverse downstream applications such as proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, microbiomics, neuroanatomy, biomarker discovery, and other cellular and molecular approaches.

To date, more than 30,000 samples have been collected from over 2,000 unique animals and made available free of charge to non-profit institutions. For more information on the projects and how to obtain samples, please visit the following websites: Addiction Biobanks and Alcohol Biobank.

We were delighted to discuss our work on the Addiction Biobanks and the valuable resources they provide for researchers working on substance use disorders at SFN 2023. We look forward to future collaborations and events where we can continue to share our research findings.