Funding & News
Grants and Funding
2024-2029: R21/R33 (R21AA031088). Title: Modulation of alcohol sensitivity and alcohol tolerance by exogenous ketones in humans. PIs: Wiers & Nanga.
2024-2026: R21 (R21AA031337): Title: Ketone supplementation as an intervention to alleviate alcohol withdrawal and improve brain metabolism in alcohol use disorder. PIs: Wiers & Nanga.
2023-2025: P30 supplement. Title: Effects of opioid use disorder and non-fatal opioid overdose on brain tau pathology. Project PIs: Wiers & Nasrallah
2019-2024: K99/R00 (R00AA026892). Title: Ketogenic diet/Ketone Ester intervention in alcoholism. PI: Wiers.
2020-2022: NARSAD Young Investigator Grant - Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Title: Effects of a ketone ester on alcohol consumption. PI: Wiers.
2021-2023: ITMAT Pilot Grant - Translational Biomedical Imaging Center, UPenn (UL1TR001878). Relationship between brain and heart glucose metabolism in alcohol use disorder. PI: Wiers & Dubroff.
2022-2024: ITMAT Junior Investigator Preliminary/Feasibility Grant: Translational Biomedical Imaging Center, UPenn (UL1TR001878). Effects of nutritional ketosis on alcohol metabolism. PI: Li.
News
January 2025: Welcome to the lab, Samnang Kim and Mike Dattilo (Clinical Coordinators)!
December 2024: Honored to be invited for two podcasts featuring ketones for alcohol:
- “Ketogenic Diets in Alcohol Addiction: Breakthrough Research with Dr. Wiers” Metabolic Mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGs0B3Id5lo
- “The Keto Diet to Crush Food and Alcohol Cravings with Dr. Corinde Wiers”. The Food Junkies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0Cv8OofSwQ
August 2024: New research funding! R21AA031337: Ketone supplementation as an intervention to alleviate alcohol withdrawal and improve brain metabolism in alcohol use disorder.
July 2024: Welcome to the lab, Delaney McKinstry (NGG PhD student)!
June 2024: New paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation by Cindy Li & Astrid Ramos-Rolón -- congrats! Imaging neuroinflammation in individuals with substance use disorders
May 2024: New research funding with Dr. Nanga! R21AA031088: Modulation of Alcohol Sensitivity and Alcohol Tolerance by Exogenous Ketones in Humans
February 2024: Welcome to the lab, Nora Foster (Clinical Coordinator)!
February 2024: New publication showing much lower alcohol breath and blood levels after ketone intake: Ketone Supplementation Dampens Subjective and Objective Responses to Alcohol: Evidence From a Preclinical Rat Study and a Randomized, Cross-Over Trial in Healthy Volunteers. Congrats Cindy!
September 2023: We welcome postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Nathan Hager to the lab!
May 2023: Review paper on metabolic profiles in OUD accepted for publication in Current Addiction Reports! Congrats Juliana et al!
February 2023: New paper accepted: Peripheral and Central Iron Measures in Alcohol Use Disorder and Aging: A Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Pilot Study. Congrats Aiden + team!!
January 2023: Welcome to Visiting Scholar Xinying Wang, and graduate research student Astrid Ramos-Rolón! Also congrats to Zhenhao for a newly accepted paper: Effects of current smoking severity on brain gray matter volume in opioid use disorder - a voxel-based morphometry study. Hurray, Zhenhao!
October 2022: We welcome Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Lais Da Silva to the lab!
September 2022: New paper accepted on Brain glutamate and sleep efficiency associations following a ketogenic diet intervention in individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder. Congratulations Cindy!
June 2022: Welcome to summer students Tiana Gerald and Millie Dancey who will work on studying the effects of nutritional ketosis on alcohol sensitivity and consumption.
April 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Cindy Li for her ITMAT Junior Investigator Preliminary/Feasibility Grant on the effects of nutritional ketosis on alcohol metabolism. We also welcome Rishika Reddy who joined us as Clinical Coordinator.
February 2022: Honored to have been awarded the Maharaj Ticku Memorial Travel Fellowship for New Investigators, Behavior, Biology, and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addiction (BBC)
January 2022: We welcome Sianneh Vesslee to the lab as Clinical Coordinator, and Aiden Adams as Penn student researcher!
December 2021: Paper accepted in Addiction Biology on elevated peripheral iron levels in alcohol use disorder.
November 2021: New review paper on nutritional ketosis in AUD in Frontiers in Psychiatry! Congratulations Vik et al!
October 2021: We welcome Dr. Cindy Li to the lab as Postdoctoral Fellow & Congratulations to Prof. Zhenhao Shi on his new Faculty position in the department of psychiatry!!!
September 2021: Excited to be accepted for the Early Career Review (ECR) Program at the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), NIH
August 2021: New paper! Dr. Zhenhao Shi used MVPA to link brain responses on an affective go/no-go task with drug use severity and opioid craving in opioid use disorder. Congratulations Zhenhao!
July 2021: We welcome Juliana Byanyima to the lab as Clinical Coordinator!
June 2021: Symposium talk Effects of Sex on the Bi-directional Relationship Between Sleep and Substance Use in the news, with Dr. Rui Zhang
May 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Zhenhao Shi on his K01 funding and Research Associate Position!
April 2021: New paper! Our first ketogenic diet paper came out in Science Advances, with excellent media coverage:
- AAAS: Keto Diet May Help Manage Alcohol Use Disorder Withdrawal
- NIDA "Hot off the press": Ketogenic Diet Reduces Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms in Humans and Alcohol Intake in Rodents
- Diet Doctor: 7 things you need to know about alcohol and the keto diet
- Deutschlandfunk (in German): Ketogene Diät: Spezielle Ernährung reduziert Alkoholentzugs-Erscheinunge
March 2021: New research grant w/ Dr. Jake Dubroff! TBIC/ITMAT funds for our work on brain and heart glucose metabolism in alcohol use disorder. Thank you!
September 2020: New paper! Elevated thalamic glutamate levels and reduced water diffusivity in alcohol use disorder: Association with impulsivity