Recent months have proved to be a particularly exciting time for ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research.  The latest news about Foundation activities and the people associated with the Foundation demonstrates why.

ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research marked its 25th year at a celebration in Halifax, Nova Scotia which coincided with the Foundation’s 35th International Medical Advisory Group Conference this past October. The 35th IMAG was hosted by the Brewers Association of Canada.  A most fitting location for the celebration, Halifax was the very site where the IMAG convened in 1982, the year of ABMRF’s incorporation.  ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research honored its lifetime grantees, lifetime donors, and past and present Board of Trustee and Advisory Council members who have received awards or attained positions of prominence.

Mr. Derek Oland, a fifth generation Canadian brewer, son of founding Trustee, Philip Oland, and former Board of Trustee member himself, addressed attendees. Noting that his father gave the Opening Remarks for the 1982 meeting in Halifax as an early, committed supporter of independent research, Mr. Oland urged donors to continue their pledge of support for the Foundation. He spoke of the significance of Foundation activities in generating ground-breaking work on the medical and social effects of alcohol consumption.

The following grants of great promise were approved for funding at the November 2007 Advisory Council meetings.

Behavioral and Social Advisory Council

Melissa A. Lewis, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Personalized Alcohol and Related Risky Sexual Behavior Feedback Intervention Project.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Krisztina Malisza, Ph.D., Institute for Biodiagnostics, “Stop, Look and Remember – Neuroimaging Cognitive Function in Children with ARND and ADHD.” Approved for $50,000 (Can) for the first of two years.

Lori Keyser-Marcus, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University, “Detecting problem drinking in new mothers: concordance between interviewer and computer-delivered screening methods.” Approved for $50,500 for the second of two years.

Matthew P. Martens, Ph.D., University of Memphis, “The Effects of Personalized Drinking Feedback Programs among Intercollegiate Athletes.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

James G. Murphy, Ph.D., The University of Memphis, “Behavioral Economic Moderators of Brief Alcohol Interventions in a Diverse Sample of College Students.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Dan J. Neal, Ph.D., Kent State University, “Self-Regulation, Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Consequences: An Electronic Diary Study.” Approved for $47,500 for the second of two years.

Jennifer Read, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, “Trauma, PTSD, and Alcohol Information Processing in College Students.” Approved for $45,500 for the first of two years. 

Medical Advisory Council

Arpana Agrawal, Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine, “Gene x Environment Influences on Quantitative Indices of Alcohol Consumption.” Approved for $49,500 for the first of two years.

Cynthia Czajkowski, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison, “Mapping the Ethanol Binding Site on alpha4-beta-delta GABA-A Receptors.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Lynette C. Daws, Ph.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, “Alcohol Inhibits Serotonin Clearance in a Serotonin Transporter Independent Manner: Are Organic Cation Transporters the Missing Link?” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Ian N. Hines, Ph.D., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Modulation of Hepatic Natural Killer T Cell Function by Ethanol.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

F. Woodward Hopf, Ph.D., Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, “I_SKCa2+ Activation and the Dorsal Striatum: A Potential Novel Treatment for Alcohol Seeking.” Approved for $25,000 for the second of two years.

Hongbo R. Luo, Ph.D., Children’s Hospital Boston, “Molecular Basis of Alcohol-Induced Neutrophil Chemotaxis Defect.” Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

Andrzej Pietrzykowski, M.D., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School, “miRNA Regulation of Alcohol Actions in Mammalian Brain.” Approved for $50,000 for the second of two years.

Gregg Roman, Ph.D., University of Houston, “The Neuromodulation of Ethanol Sedation by Heterotrimeric G proteins in Drosophila.” Approved for $49,300 for the first of two years.

Huiping Zhang, Ph.D., Yale University School of Medicine, “Association Study of a Subfamily (Rz) of Regulator of G-protein Signaling (RGS) Genes in Alcohol Dependence.”  Approved for $50,000 for the first of two years.

The Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), a professional society of over 1,700 members, held its annual conference July 7-11 at the Chicago Hyatt Regency Hotel. A highlight of the meeting was the Closing Ceremonies and Awards Dinner at which many people close to ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research were recognized with the field’s most prestigious awards.

The 28th Annual RSA Distinguished Researcher Award was presented to Dr. Fulton Crews, a member of the ABMRF Medical Advisory Council. As the recipient of the award, Dr. Crews presented a Plenary Session on the many accomplishments over his research career.

The RSA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Steven Leslie, Provost of the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the ABMRF Board of Trustees. This was only the fourth time the award has been presented since it was first awarded in 1996 to Dr. Thomas Turner, ABMRF Founding President. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Leslie recognized the important role of ABMRF in funding young investigators, having been a grantee in the earlier years of his research career.

The First Annual Henri Begleiter Excellence in Research Award was presented to Dr. Ting-Kai Li, Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and former member of the ABMRF Board of Trustees and Medical Advisory Council.

Dr. Mack Mitchell, ABMRF President, was the recipient of the 20th Annual RSA Seixas Award for Service to the field of alcoholism research. Before presenting the award, Dr. Raymond Anton, RSA President-Elect and ABMRF Vice Chairman, asked everyone in the audience who had ever received an ABMRF grant or served on the Board or Advisory Councils to stand up and be recognized. Incidentally, Ray did an excellent job of presiding over the meeting in the absence of the current RSA president who was absent due to serious illness.

Dr. Kristina Jackson, a current ABMRF grantee and the recipient of the 2006 Annual RSA Young Investigator Award presented a Plenary Session at this year’s meeting. Her talk was introduced by her mentor at the University of Missouri, Dr. Kenneth Sher, the first winner of the Young Investigator Award (1988) and a long serving member of the ABMRF Behavioral and Social Advisory Council. Dr. Jackson was one of the speakers at the October International Medical Advisory Group Meeting in Halifax.

Dr. Joanne Weinberg, a professor at the University of British Columbia Brain Research Centre and former member of the ABMRF Behavioral and Social Advisory Council was named the recipient of the Henry L. Rosett Award at a satellite session of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Study Group.

ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research contributed support for Student Merit Awards which provided travel funds for Canadian and U.S. graduate students to attend the conference. This year, the Foundation also provided travel funds in support of speakers participating in a Roundtable and Workshop entitled, “Alcohol in Moderation, Cardioprotection and Neuroprotection: Epidemiological Overview and Basic Mechanistic Studies.”

A number of Foundation grantees and Advisory Council members participated in many of the symposia and workshops held over the four days of meetings, and more than a dozen of the posters on display reported on recent research results from junior investigators working with ABMRF grant funds.