Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit

For decades, the BPRU has conducted influential research and has contributed to major advances in treatments and science:

• Early research on methadone treatment of opioid use disorder
• Seminal work developing buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid use disorder
• Development and refinement of abuse-liability methods now standard in FDA evaluations
• Recognition of caffeine withdrawal as a scientific phenomenon and psychiatric diagnosis 
• Modern-day resurrection of human research with classic psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin
• Cannabis research that has informed the risks and therapeutics of cannabis use and informed regulation
• Tobacco regulatory science has guided the FDA in its modern-day role of regulating tobacco and other nicotine products
• The efficacy of behavioral treatments such as contingency management as powerful therapeutics in treatment

Our research spans many approaches and designs:

• Clinical pharmacology
• Randomized clinical trials
• Abuse liability assessment
• Medications development 
• Cognitive effects of drugs
• Behavioral effects of drugs and addiction
• Brain imaging (MRI, PET)
• Genetics and drugs
• Neuroscience of drugs
• Behavioral treatment of substance use disorders
• Pharmacological treatment of substance use disorders
• Integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatment
• Psychiatric co-morbidity
• Sexual, HIV, and other risks associated with drug use
• Behavior economics of drug use and risk behavior including discounting and demand processes
• Drugs and their interaction with pain
• Drugs and sleep
• Drugs and pregnancy
• Women’s health issues and drug use