Division of Neuroscience and Behavior (DNB)

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) invite you to the annual 2024 NIDA-NIAAA Frontiers in Addiction Research Mini-Convention. The Mini-Convention will be held as a one-day in-person meeting in Chicago, Il, on October 4, 2024. The annual NIDA-NIAAA Mini-Convention provides a forum for presentations and discussions of current topics in neuroscience and addiction research. 

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The Genetics and Epigenetics Cross-Cutting Research Team of the National Institute on Drug Abuse invites you to attend the March 17-18, 2025, NIDA Genetics and Epigenetics Cross-Cutting Research Team Meeting at Natcher Auditorium on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD.  Meeting Information

2024 Freedman Prizewinner

Christina K. Kim, Ph.D. is the 2024 Freedman Prizewinner. DNB Grantee Christina Kim is the recipient of the 2024 Freedman Prize for Exceptional Basic Research from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The Freedman Prize honors the late Daniel X. Freedman, M.D., a pioneer in biological psychiatry and psychopharmacology and a founding member of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Scientific Council. It is awarded to a Young Investigator Grantee for exceptional basic studies. Klerman & Freedman Prizes | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (bbrfoundation.org)

Congratulations to the NIDA-DNB Grantees who were recipients of the 2024 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Awards

  • JH Woods Early Career Award in Behavioral Pharmacology
    Brian Kangas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
  • PB Dews Lifetime Achievement Award for Research in Behavioral Pharmacology
    Michael Nader, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University Medical School
  • Division of Molecular Pharmacology, Early Career Reward
    Tao Che, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University
  • Division of Neuropharmacology, Early Career Reward
    Gregory Sartor, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Connecticut
  • Division of Neuropharmacology, Early Career Reward
    Lauren Slosky, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota

What We Do:

The mission of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior is to discover, facilitate and promote outstanding basic animal and human research towards the mission of NIDA, to identify the causes and consequences of drug use disorders and addiction across the lifespan and to guide treatment strategies. We develop and support an extramural research program that will advance the understanding of the genetic, chemical, neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms of drug use disorders and their long-term consequences. Research related to the neurobiological bases of reward and the behaviors that characterize the cycle of addiction are a primary focus of DNB. Additionally, an integral component of our scientific mission is to grow and maintain a diverse workforce that is dedicated towards our research goals and this is supported through training initiatives that span from predoctoral level to mid-stage investigator.

Upcoming Meetings and Symposiums DNB Staff are Chairing or Presenting

DNB is organized by four scientific Branches that focus on complementary strategic research areas:

DNB org chart - text has description below
  • The Chemistry Pharmacology Branch (CP), directed by Dr. Subramaniam (Sam) Ananthan, is focused on early discovery and validation of targets to treat substance use disorders and adverse effects of addictive drugs.  Areas of interest include the structural dynamics of receptors, computational drug design, novel mechanisms of drug delivery.
  • The Genetics, Epigenetics and Development Branch (GED), directed by Jonathan Pollock , is focused on genetic determinants of vulnerability to drug use disorders and addiction, effects of addiction on epigenetic and non-coding factors that regulate gene expression and the consequences of exposure to addictive drugs at different windows of development.
  • The Behavioral Cognitive Neuroscience Branch (BCN), directed by Vani Pariyadath, is concerned with the behavioral, cognitive and environmental antecedents of exposure to addictive drugs and behavioral, cognitive and environmental approaches for treating drug use disorders, addiction and the adverse consequences of addictive drugs.
  • The Integrative Neuroscience Branch (IN), directed by Dr. Tristan McClure-Begley supports research related to the effects of drug user disorders on neural activity and plasticity from cellular to network levels.  Additionally, this branch supports research on the effects on neuroimmune signaling and neuron-glial interactions.
  • Dr. Mary Kautz is the DNB lead of the The Tobacco regulatory science program (TRSP)

Certain cross-cutting programs span all four branches including a portfolio in HIV-AIDS research, Data Science Research (led by Susan Wright, Ph.D.) and research related to sex and gender contributions to individual variability. DNB also encourages studies that leverage tools and technology arising from the BRAIN initiative to address questions relevant to substance use disorders. The Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG) works to improve opportunities for diversity and inclusion within DNB and in the initiatives it administers.

DNB encourages applicants to consider the importance of design and reproducibility of their findings, as applicable.

Related Funding Opportunities:

Staff Listings:

Mailing Address:

Division of Neuroscience and Behavior 
National Institute on Drug Abuse 
C/O NIH Mail Center 
NIDA 3WFN MSC 6018 
16071 Industrial Drive – Dock 11 
Gaithersburg, MD 20892* 
*(Use 20892 for U.S. Postal Service, 20877 for UPS and FedEx)

(301) 594-6043 (fax)