# Neural circuit dynamics of drug action

> **NIH NIH P50** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $3,017,179

## Abstract

Overall Summary
We will develop a NIDA Center, Neural circuit dynamics of drug action, dedicated to the development,
application, and dissemination of brainwide and cellular-resolution analyses of altered states elicited by drugs
of abuse. Our science will focus on identifying the causal circuit-level actions of drugs of abuse in modulating
behavior relevant to assessment of context, risk and reward. In a manner that brings together the collaborating
groups of the Center, we focus on clinically significant drugs with different molecular profiles but shared
significance for understanding behaviors and perceptions relevant to social and nonsocial risk and reward.
Specific agents employed include methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine, in the setting of validated human,
rat, and mouse social and nonsocial behaviors. We will both develop the brainwide technologies and engage in
extensive outreach, training, and education to broaden impact, with the NIDA IRP and beyond. The Center
includes four Research Projects (1: led by Dr. Karl Deisseroth, focusing on methamphetamine, MDMA and
ketamine action in the cortex and across the brain of mice and rats; 2: led by Dr. Lisa Giocomo, focusing on
methamphetamine and ketamine action in entorhinal cortex and hippocampal formation of mice and rats; 3:
led by Dr. Robert Malenka, focusing on methamphetamine and MDMA action across the brain of mice; and 4:
led by Dr. Leanne Williams and Brian Knutson, focusing on human structural and functional imaging relevant
to methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA, and risk/reward relationships. Broad and diverse interactions among
these groups and external collaborators will be further enriched by the Center’s vital Training Core for
disseminating these techniques to advance drug abuse research, a Technology Core for developing the next-
generation technologies suitable for application to drug abuse research, and an Administrative Core for
orchestrating these important interactions. This approach to the NIDA Center will allow us to capitalize on the
unique strengths of our team, crossing scales from molecules and synapses, to circuits and behavior, reaching
the scope of the intact human brain as we identify relevant structure-activity relationships within animal and
human nervous systems.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9962330
- **Project number:** 5P50DA042012-04
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Karl A. Deisseroth
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $3,017,179
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-15 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9962330

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9962330, Neural circuit dynamics of drug action (5P50DA042012-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9962330. Licensed CC0.

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