Current Funding

Most of our research is focused on substance abuse disorders including both illicit drugs and alcohol. The National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism fund the majority of work in the lab. However, as a systems genetics lab, our methods, tools, and research can be beneficial to a variety of other research disciplines.

RGAP: The heritable transcriptome and alcoholism

Funding Agency: NIH (NIAAA) R24 AA013162

Principal Investigators: Laura Saba, Paula Hoffman (School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus), and Boris Tabakoff (Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus)

Funding Period:  08/01/2001 – 07/31/2023 (NCE)

The goal of this application is to establish an animal model and accompanying database (PhenoGen) suitable for a systems genetic analysis of complex traits, specifically traits that represent genetic predisposing factors for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

NIDA center of excellence in omics, systems genetics and the addictome

Funding Agency: NIH (NIDA) P30 DA044223

Principal Investigators: Laura Saba, Robert Williams (University of Tennessee Health Science Center)

Funding Period: 08/01/2017 – 05/31/2023 (NCE)

The purpose of the NIDA P30 Core Center of Excellence in Omics, Systems Genetics, and the Addictome is to empower current and future NIDA researchers to examine the interwoven roles of genetic and environmental variation on drug abuse risk, relapse, and treatment by eliminating many of the technical barriers to analysis.

Identification of genes and genetic networks contributing to opioid use disorder traits in the Hybrid Rat Diversity Panel

Funding Agency: NIH (NIDA) U01 DA051937

Principal Investigators: Laura Saba, Marissa Ehringer, Institute of Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder and Ryan Bachtell, University of Colorado Boulder

Funding Period: 07/01/2020-06/30/2025

The goal of this project is to identify the underlying genetic components that influence endophenotypes related to opioid use disorder using the Hybrid Rat Diversity Panel.

Development of a novel computational methods for cross-species comparison to identify candidate small molecules for complex diseases: A demonstration with substance abuse phenotypes

Funding Agency: Skaggs Scholars Grant from Skaggs Foundation

Principal Investigators: Laura Saba and Pejman Mohammadi, Scripps Research

Funding Period: 07/01/2021-06/30/2023

For this grant, our goal is to improve methods for estimating the SUD-related molecular profiles in rats and to develop and evaluate methods for linking these SUD profiles in rats to drug response profiles in human samples.

other FUNDED collaborations

As a biostatistics/bioinformatics lab, we also have the opportunity to collaborate with a wide variety of researchers across diseases and model organisms. Currently we are fortunate to be funded to collaborate with the following groups:

Jared Brown (SSPPS, UC-AMC) - Mechanisms of mast cell directed carbon nanotube toxicity

James Roede (SSPPS, UC-AMC) - Altered hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition via Maneb mediated changes in thiol redox proteome

Abraham Palmer (UC San Diego) - Center for Genetic Studies of Drug Abuse in Outbred Rats

Cheryl Ackert-Bicknell and Doug Adams (UC-AMC) - Identification of genes regulating PTH-mediated skeletal strength

Dmitri Simberg (SSPPS, UC-AMC) - The alternative complement pathway and hemocompatibility of nanosurfaces

Kristofer Fritz (SSPPS, UC-AMC) - Mechanisms of alcohol toxicology and kidney damage

Caitlin O’Meara (Medical College of Wisconsin) - Genetic mapping of variable cardiac cell composition in the rat

Steven Britt (University of Texas Austin) - Transcriptional Profiles of Visual System Impairment