Congratulations to Jacques E. Chelly, MD, PhD, MBA; Bradley K. Taylor, PhD; Michael Gold, PhD (Dept. of Neurobiology); Sarah Ross, PhD (Dept. of Neurobiology); and Marianne Seney, PhD (Dept. of Psychiatry), who have been awarded $100,000 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to collect pilot data to apply for NIH Program Project (P01) funding for their study “Long-lasting Effects of Ketamine on Chronic Pain, Opioid Tolerance, and Depression.”
The P01 comprises five projects. By utilizing clinical trials, animal models, and molecular-genetic and imaging approaches, the investigators intend to determine if ketamine reduces opioid tolerance, pain, and/or depression in patients taking high doses of opioids. Their findings could help develop strategies to get patients off opioids and identify factors keeping them on high doses.