ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research returned to Canadian soil for its 37th International Medical Advisory Group conference hosted by the Brewers Association of Canada (BAC) in Montréal, Québec. Delegations from 16 countries participated in the three-day event which featured medical presentations and informal events designed to foster alcohol research through global collegiality. Researchers and brewer representatives from Australia/New Zealand, Central and South America, the United Kingdom and Europe, Asia and North America comprised the 100-person assembly.

Montréal, Québec – October 16-18, 2011

Scientific programming coordinated by ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research presented multiple sessions, each showcasing a different topic: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Alcohol and the Liver, Biology and Neurobiology of Drinking, and Underage Drinking Prevention. Expert Advisory Council scientists and accomplished former ABMRF grantees presented key findings in these areas of academic discovery. For the Underage Drinking session, members of the European and North American research communities shared perspectives as part of an ongoing joint project between North American ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research and its sister organization in Europe, ERAB: The European Foundation for Alcohol Research. Dr. Phillipe De Witte moderated the Underage Drinking session and the panel discussion which followed. Watch for complete session summaries under the Meetings and Conferences tab. 

An exciting new project has taken shape around the topic of Underage Drinking. In a joint effort with ERAB/The European Foundation for Alcohol Research, ABMRF has engaged in a comparative review and exchange of information on effective counter-measures in Europe and North America. The aim of the project is to compare and communicate the effectiveness of preventive strategies for these two regions and identify areas requiring further study.

The working consortium is comprised of distinguished representatives in the field of underage drinking–several investigators from each territory–under the guidance of ABMRF and ERAB leaders, President Mack C. Mitchell, Jr. M.D. and Chairman Dr. Phillippe De Witte, M.D. The collaboration was kicked off with an afternoon workshop on October 17 in Montreal Canada during the multi-day IMAG assembly. Initial highlights were introduced the following morning to the full IMAG delegation in a session entitled “Underage Drinking Prevention.” 

Dr. Helene R. White, former Chair of ABMRF’s Behavioral and Social Advisory Council (BSAC), and Dr. Franca Beccaria, a sociologist from Eclectica, Italy, presented “The Nature and Prevalence of Underage Drinking in North America and Europe.” Dr. Kim Fromme, current Chair of the BSAC, and Dr. Reinout Wiers, from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, spoke in “Risks and Protective Factors in Underage Drinking.” Dr. Fromme and Dr. Wiers presented Personal, peer, and parental influences on underage drinking and Implicit and explicit cognitive processes and underage drinking, respectively. “The Status of Prevention Efforts” was reviewed by Dr. Sherry Stewart, another former chair of the BSAC, in Adolescent alcohol prevention: What is the state-of-the-art?; and her counterpart, Dr. Antti Latvala, in Status of adolescent alcohol-use prevention in Europe. In the concluding section, Dr. Pejja Sulkunen, sociologist and member of the ERAB Advisory Board presented “The Contribution of Sociology to the Prevention of Adolescent Alcohol Problems” before Dr. De Witte moderated the panel discussion and question session.

The consortium will convene in Belgium in 2012 to complete its mission which will culminate in a comparative report on youth drinking detailing the nature, prevalence, risk and protective factors, and prevention initiatives.

The following grants of great promise were approved for funding at the October 2011 Advisory Council meetings.

Behavioral and Social Advisory Council

Beth M. Anderson, Ph.D., Hartford Hospital, “Alcohol cue reactivity as a predictor of future alcohol use disorders.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Dingcai Cao, Ph.D., The University of Chicago, “Alcohol effects on visual processing in at-risk social drinkers.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Emma Childs, Ph.D., The University of Chicago, “Location, location, location: Associations between alcohol drinking and the environment.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Lindsay S. Ham, Ph.D., University of Arkansas, “Alcohol’s effects on emotional facial cue processing as a mechanism for social stress response dampening.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Andrew S. Kayser, M.D., Ph.D., Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, “Frontal cortical networks and cognitive control in subjects with alcohol-use disorders.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Shannon R. Kenney, Ph.D., Loyola Marymount University, “Increasing protective strategies with students of poorer mental health to reduce alcohol risk.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Panagiota Kitsantas, Ph.D., George Mason University, “Determinants of alcohol reduction and cessation during pregnancy.” Approved for $37,000 for one year.

Ty W. Lostutter, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Alcohol’s impact on academic success of OEF/OIF college students.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Linda McEvoy, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, “25-year trajectories of alcohol use and health in an older community cohort.” Approved for $50,000 for one year.

Paola Pedrelli, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, “Toward developing a positive and negative reinforcement framework of binge drinking among college students.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Medical Advisory Council

Eleni Anni, Ph.D., Thomas Jefferson University, “Alcohol regulates self-renewal and differentiation capacity of embryonic stem cells.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Anita Bechtholt-Gompf, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School—McLean Hospital, “Kappa-opioid mechanisms in escalating ethanol intake and acute withdrawal-induced anxiety.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Anna Lee, Ph.D., Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, “PKC epsilon regulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors is a novel mechanism in co-morbid alcohol and nicotine addiction.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Yongke Lu, Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, “Ethanol induction of CYP2A5 and its toxicological significance..” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Chitra D. Mandyam, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, “Alcohol dependence inhibits medial prefrontal cortex gliogenesis.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Igor Ponomarev, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin—Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, “Molecular mechanisms of accumbal plasticity in a mouse model of excessive alcohol consumption.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Richard M. van Rijn, Ph.D., Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, “Delta opioid receptor subtypes display opposing roles in alcohol consumption.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Jun Xu, M.D., Ph.D., Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, “Notch signaling in synergistic steatohepatitis induced by obesity and alcohol.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.