# Low-input profiling of brain-region and cell-type specific epigenomic dynamics to understand gene-environment interactions in opioid addiction

> **NIH NIH R01** · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · 2024 · $692,280

## Abstract

Project Summary
Addiction is a physiological process that involves changes in neural plasticity in response to drugs of abuse.
Although genetic factors have been recognized as a strong influence on the susceptibility to addition,
environmental stimuli and life experiences also form important risk factors. There has been increasing
evidence that epigenetic mechanisms mediate the influence of environmental factors on gene activities in the
CNS and therefore are likely involved in brain development and pathology of drug abuse. Furthermore, DNA
sequence variation is known to impact epigenetic landscape, chromatin structures and molecular phenotypes
via influencing the cis-regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers. In this project, we are interested
in probing how epigenomic mechanisms mediate environmental factors such as adolescent drug exposure
during addiction development and how a genetic variant affects such mediation. We will use the state-of-the-art
omic and bioinformatic technologies to decipher the links among genetics, epigenetics and environmental
factors involved in opioid addiction. The low-input approaches will allow us to characterize epigenomic and
transcriptomic dynamics with cell-type and brain-region specificity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10928700
- **Project number:** 5R01DA056187-02
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Julie A Blendy
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $692,280
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-15 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10928700

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10928700, Low-input profiling of brain-region and cell-type specific epigenomic dynamics to understand gene-environment interactions in opioid addiction (5R01DA056187-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10928700. Licensed CC0.

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