# IUB C3A Pilot Project Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $128,385

## Abstract

Pilot Project Core Abstract
The IUB Center for Cannabis, Cannabinoids and Addiction (C3A) Pilot Project Core will establish a pilot project
program designed to support 2 to 4 new projects/year. The Pilot Project Core PI is Professor Norbert Hájos,
who holds a Gill Chair of Neuroscience. Its goal is to support and encourage innovative and exploratory
projects from trainees and establish investigators exploring new lines of research related to substance abuse.
Pilot projects will be solicited annually from C3A Affiliates and their trainees. We anticipate that some of these
pilot project proposals will come from trainees supported by our NIDA-T32, DA024628. Each proposal will be
reviewed by 2 members of the External Advisory Board and 2 members of the Internal Advisory Board.
Proposals will be ranked by the following priorities: 1. Support of young investigators/investigators new to the
addiction field. 2. Support of groups historically underrepresented in drug abuse research. 3. A project that
will maximally benefit from access to either the BLM or MSPM cores. 4. Obtain preliminary data for NIDA grant
application. 5. Includes a component of high risk/high payout. Low priority will be given to proposals that
merely supplement ongoing funded research. All applicants will receive feedback on their proposals and will be
offered the opportunity to be mentored by a C3A PI or Affiliate in subsequent applications to the C3A or
external agencies. Successful applicants will be assigned a Core staff member to optimize experimental
design with the technical capabilities of the relevant core(s) utilized and matched with a IUB C3A Center
Affiliate to provide guidance in the substance abuse field. Awardees will present their work at least three times
to the monthly C3A research meetings and once to the external advisory board. A summary report will also be
prepared when the project is completed.
Based on these criteria, we have chosen two projects for the initial submission of this P30. Pilot Project 1 has
been proposed by Gabriel Nah, a graduate student working with Dr. Jonathan Crystal, a Provost Professor at
IU Bloomington. Mr. Nah’s project uses a rat model to examine the impact of adolescent THC exposure on the
lipidomic, anatomical, molecular, and cognitive changes following mild traumatic brain injury and will use both
the lipidomics and imaging cores. Pilot Project 2 has been proposed by Center Affiliate, Dr. Shanna Babalonis,
as assistant professor at the University of Kentucky studying multi-drug use in human populations. Dr.
Babalonis’ project will use the lipidomics core to examine the plasma lipidome and phytocannabinoid levels in
opioid users in a controlled setting with and without inhaled cannabis exposure. These two pilot projects meet
the goals of the Pilot Project Core in the following ways: Project 1 supports an African American graduate
student working on a significant question addressing the impact of prior drug use on the sequelae of trauma...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10898854
- **Project number:** 5P30DA056410-02
- **Recipient organization:** TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Norbert Hajos
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $128,385
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-15 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10898854

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10898854, IUB C3A Pilot Project Core (5P30DA056410-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10898854. Licensed CC0.

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