Addiction Neuroscience Group

Alcohol and smoking both contribute to a significant number of hospitalisations and deaths daily. Many of these deaths are preventable and demonstrate the urgent need for improved therapeutic strategies.

Our group studies how alcohol and other drugs change the brain’s chemistry, structure and function. Our research into the motivation to seek and consume alcohol has identified circuits, neurotransmitters, and novel drug targets. We continue to unravel the circuitry and brain chemistry involved in alcohol-seeking.

With our innovative program of research, we directly address alcohol-related problems using robust animal models, best-practice research pipelines, key strategic collaborations, clinical and pharma partners.

Research interests

  • The impact of alcohol on the brain
  • Neural circuitry of alcohol-seeking behaviours
  • Identifying novel therapeutic targets
  • Interactions between stress and
    alcohol use
  • Sex differences in binge drinking
  • Alcohol and metabolic hormones
  • Addiction-like behaviours in obesity
Techniques

  • Behavioural models
  • Neuropsychopharmacology
  • Electrophysiology
  • Fiber photometry
  • RNAScope
  • Immunohistochemistry/microscopy
  • Chemogenetics
  • Viral tracing

About our research

In Australia alone, alcohol hospitalises more than 400 people per day and kills more than 15 people daily (Turning Point). Smoking causes approximately 55 deaths per day. These deaths are largely preventable and demonstrate the urgent need for improved therapeutic strategies. While behavioural intervention will be part of the remedy, these afflictions are neurochemical in their origins and, if properly understood, should respond to appropriate neuropharmacological interventions. Our innovative program of research directly addresses these problems with robust animal models, best-practice research pipelines, key strategic collaborations, and clinical and pharma partners.

We study how alcohol and other drugs change the brain’s chemistry, structure and function. Our research into the motivation to seek and consume alcohol has identified circuits, neurotransmitters and novel drug targets, with significant knowledge gained around mechanisms that underpin relapse – a major issue for treatment success. For example, we were the first to demonstrate that the orexin system was critically involved in relapse to alcohol-seeking. Over the last 15 years we’ve shown that orexin is a pivotal driver of alcohol-seeking, even after prolonged abstinence and identified brain nuclei where this effect is mediated. We also designed the world’s first double-blind placebo-controlled trial of Belsomra® (suvorexant; a drug that targets the orexin system) for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD).

We continue to unravel the circuitry and brain chemistry involved in alcohol-seeking. Using a validated back-translation approach we identified muscarinic M4 receptors as a novel therapeutic target for AUD. More recently, we identified an ion channel that appears to play key roles in both controlling intake and the somatic signs of withdrawal following dependence. We are continue these lines of enquiry, along with other projects listed below, and research in collaboration with the Fluid Homeostasis Group.

Research team

Research team head

Professor Andrew Lawrence

Deputy Director and Group Head

Team members

Dr Leigh Walker

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Philip Ryan

Group Head

Research and technical staff

  • Kathleen Teng
  • Amy Pearl

PhD students

  • Annai Charlton
  • Anna Horton
  • Xavier Maddern
  • Kade Huckstep
  • Sean Murphy
  • Shivani Vaidya
  • Eva Guerrero-Hreins

Selected publications

  • Walker LC, Berizzi AE, Chen NA, Rueda P, Perreau VM, Huckstep K, Srisontiyakul J, Govitrapong P, Xiaojian J, Lindsley CW, Jones CK, Riddy DM, Christopoulos A, Langmead CJ and Lawrence AJ (2020), ‘Acetylcholine muscarinic M4 receptors as a therapeutic target for alcohol use disorder: converging evidence from humans and rodents’, Biological Psychiatry, doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.02.019
  • Walker LC, Huckstep KL, Chen NA, Hand LJ, Lindsley CW, Langmead CJ and Lawrence AJ (2021), ‘Muscarinic M 4 and M 5 receptors in the ventral subiculum differentially modulate alcohol seeking versus consumption in male alcohol‐preferring rats’, British Journal of Pharmacology, 178(18):3730–3746, doi:10.1111/bph.15513
  • Maddern XJ, Walker LC, Campbell EJ, Arunogiri S, Haber PS, Morley K, Manning V, Millan EZ, McNally GP, Lubman DI and Lawrence AJ (2022), ‘Can we enhance the clinical efficacy of cognitive and psychological approaches to treat substance use disorders through understanding their neurobiological mechanisms?’, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 142:104899, doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104899
  • Murphy SC, Godenzini L, Guzulaitis R, Lawrence AJ and Palmer LM (2023), ‘Cocaine regulates sensory filtering in cortical pyramidal neurons’, Cell Reports, 42(2):112122–112122, doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112122

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