Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (BPRU)

Director: George Bigelow, Ph.D.
Medical Director: Eric Strain, M.D.

The Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (BPRU is a broad-based drug abuse clinical research program encompassing both human laboratory research and outpatient treatment research. Major themes of the research conducted at the BPRU include:

• clinical pharmacology of drug abuse and of medications for treating drug abuse
• behavioral and pharmacological treatments for drug abuse, and their integration
• abuse liability assessment of psychoactive substances
• behavioral and neuropsychiatric assessment of drug abusers, including psychiatric comorbidity and cognitive and psychomotor functioning. 

The BPRU is located at a single site on the Bayview Campus (the Behavioral Biology Research Center), and includes both a 14-bed residential unit staffed 24-hours per day, an outpatient treatment/research clinic with a capacity of up to 180 daily patients, an on-site urine collection and testing laboratory, and outpatient facilities for same day volunteers who return home at the end of the day. In addition to departmental faculty, on-site staff at the BPRU include nurses, counselors, research assistances, an internist and nurse practitioner, and technical and administrative support.

Faculty at the BPRU have conducted research with all major categories of abused substances (alcohol, caffeine, cannabis, cocaine and other stimulants, hallucinogens, opioids, nicotine, and sedatives including benzodiazepines). Studies have included work in the following areas: clinical pharmacology of drugs of abuse; medications development research; the cognitive neuroscience and behavioral toxicity of drugs of abuse; abuse liability assessment; behavioral treatment of drug abuse; pharmacological treatment of drug abuse; integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatments; psychiatric comorbidity; behavioral assessment; HIV risk behavior assessment; clinical trials research methods and management; addiction and pregnancy; and women’s health issues. 

The BPRU is the site for a T32 post-doctoral training program funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This training program has operated for over 25 years, and graduates have moved to positions in academic medical centers, the pharmaceutical industry, government agencies, and teaching. The focus of the program is on real world training in clinical research related to addictions. Associate faculty from other addictions programs on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus also maintain active collaboration with BPRU faculty and resources.