Press Releases

October 8, 1998
Noted Cocaine Addiction Researcher Discusses "Imaging the Brain"

Contact:
Jane Finalborgo
Joe Dionisio
(516) 287 8313
Fax: (516) 283 4081

 

Southampton, NY -- Dr. Stephen Dewey, a neuroanatomist at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Chemistry Department, will present a lecture titled "Imaging the Brain at Work" on Monday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Southampton College of Long Island University.

In August, Dewey earned national and international attention after he led a research team who concluded that an inexpensive epilepsy drug may be a highly effective pharmaceutical treatment for addiction to cocaine and other drugs.

The team showed that the epilepsy drug gamma-vinyl-GABA, or GVG, blocked cocaine's effect in the brains of primates, including the process that causes a "high" feeling in humans.

In addition to substance abuse, his research on brain function may lead to new treatment strategies for schizophrenia and depression.

"More than a decade of hard work went into these findings," said Dr. Dewey, whose work was sponsored by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Mental Health, with involvement from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. "If (the epilepsy drug) can do for humans what it did for animals, we may have opened the door for addicts around the world to kick their habit and for society to stop the costly cycle of addiction, violence and wasted lives."

Dewey's talk takes place in the Angier Biddle Duke Lecture Hall in Chancellors Hall, the College's recently opened $10 million academic center. For information contact Professor Maureen Krause at 516-287-8397.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is part an ongoing seminar, Current Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology. The series features topics including forensics, environmental biology and pharmacology, as presented by research scientists.

Upcoming lectures in Current Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology will include:

Monday, Nov. 2: Dr. Barry Baxt of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, USDA on Studies on Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Receptors. Monday, Nov. 9: Dr. James Trimmer, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at SUNY Stony Brook. Title TBA. Monday, Nov. 16: Dr. Marge Connelly of the SUNY Stony Brook Department of Pharmacology on HDL Cholesterol Receptors. Monday, Nov. 23: Patricia Escobar of the SUNY Stony Brook Department of Ecology on Paternity Assessment in a Mulitmale Group of Monkeys. Monday, Nov. 30: Brian Verelli Escobar of the SUNY Stony Brook Department of Ecology and Evolution on Molecular Evolution. Monday, Dec. 7: Dr. Isaac Wirgin of NYU Medical Center, Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine, on Molecular Approaches to Understanding Pollution's Impact of Hudson River Fish.