Psychosocial Stress and Substance Abuse
Exposure Biology Program
The Psychosocial Stress and Addictive Substances Program has developed improved tools for measuring exposure to psychosocial stress and addictive substances. The ability to precisely measure these exposures has improved our understanding of their interaction with genetic factors in the etiology of human diseases. Traditional measures of psychosocial stress and addictive substances can be difficult to deploy in large-scale, field-based population studies, and offer minimal information about changes in exposure over time, at different intensities, and across locations. New technologies that provide more comprehensive measurements allow the assessment of acute, chronic, and cumulative exposures to psychosocial stress and addictive substances with a high degree of temporal and spatial resolution. In addition, these tools can be used to follow exposures throughout life and among varied population groups. The projects funded through this program have made advances in real-time assessment and self-reported information. developed novel targets and platforms for measurement, and decreased participant burden through miniaturization, automated measurement, and improved usability of measurement devices.
Grantees
| Project Title | Principal Investigator | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Real Time Methods for Quantifying Exposure to Illicit Drugs & Psychosocial Stress | Gregory D. Kirk | Johns Hopkins University |
| Light Measuring Device for Correcting Circadian Disruption | Mark S. Rea | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| Refinement and Validation of a Portable, Salivary Biosensor of Psychosocial Stress | Vivek Shetty | University of California Los Angeles |
| AutoSense: Quantifying Exposures to Addictive Substances and Psychosocial Stress | Santosh Kumar | University of Memphis |
| Psychosocial Stress Exposure: Real-Time and Structured Interview Technologies | Thomas Wilson Kamarck | University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh |
