Opioids

A current survey and synthesis of the most important findings in our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction is detailed in our Neurobiology of Addiction series, each volume addressing a specific area of addiction. Opioids, Volume 4 in the series, explores the molecular, cellular and systems in the brain responsible for opioid addiction using the heuristic three-stage cycle framework of binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation. - Highlights recent advances in opioid addiction - Includes Neurocircuitry, Cellular and Molecular neurobiological mechanisms of opioid addiction - Defines opioid abuse and addiction potential, including biological tolerance

Dr. Koob is an internationally-recognized expert on alcohol and stress, and the neurobiology of alcohol and drug addiction. He is the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), overseeing a broad portfolio of alcohol research ranging from basic science to epidemiology, diagnostics, prevention, and treatment. Dr. Koob earned his doctorate in Behavioral Physiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1972. Prior to taking the helm at NIAAA, he served as Professor and Chair of the Scripps' Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders and Director of the Alcohol Research Center at the Scripps Research Institute. Early in his career, Dr. Koob conducted research in the Department of Neurophysiology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and in the Arthur Vining Davis Center for Behavioral Neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology and the MRC Neuropharmacology Unit at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Koob began his career investigating the neurobiology of emotion, particularly how the brain processes reward and stress. He subsequently applied basic research on emotions, including on the anatomical and neurochemical underpinnings of emotional function, to alcohol and drug addiction, significantly broadening knowledge of the adaptations within reward and stress neurocircuits that lead to addiction. Dr. Koob has authored more than 650 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is a co-author of The Neurobiology of Addiction.