Natalie Zlebnik, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the UCR School of Medicine, has received a two-year, $35,000 NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. The grant will support her research into how endocannabinoids, or eCBs, might help prevent cocaine addiction relapse.

Zlebnik’s study will focus on the brain circuitry involved in drug-seeking behavior, particularly the cortico-accumbal pathway, which plays a role in goal-directed actions. She explained that global cocaine use has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic, with overdose deaths rising in the U.S. over the past decade. 

“With no FDA-approved medications for cocaine use disorder, identifying mechanisms of cocaine relapse is a crucial step in the development of effective treatments,” she said.

Cocaine use disrupts signaling in the nucleus accumbens, a key part of the brain’s reward system, and affects eCB balance. Zlebnik’s research will explore how eCB signaling might counteract this disruption and reduce relapse risk. Findings from the research could lead to new eCB-based treatments for cocaine addiction.

The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, formerly called the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia & Depression, or NARSAD, is a nonprofit organization that funds mental health research.