Yale Holds Second International Conference on Alcoholism

New Haven, Conn. — Researchers from around the globe will gather at Yale School of Medicine January 19-21 for a conference on the latest discoveries on using neuroimaging in the study and treatment of alcoholism.

Among the speakers at the Second International Conference on the Applications of Neuroimaging to Alcoholism (ICANA) will be T.K. Li, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which provides support for the forum.

In addition to neuroimaging, the conference will focus on emerging topics within the field, such as the relationship between the neural circuitry of reward processes and the vulnerability to heavy drinking. Conference participants also will discuss ways in which neuroimaging might provide biomarkers for treatment studies.

ICANA was the first international meeting devoted to exploring the potential contributions of neuroimaging technologies for understanding the neurobiology and treatment of alcohol-related disorders. The initial meeting in 2004 drew 100 scientists who were invited from around the world for the intensive, three-day think tank.

“Sufficient time has lapsed since the initial ICANA that there is a critical mass of new knowledge with respect to neuroimaging technology and applications to alcoholism that have not been digested by the field of alcoholism research,” said John Krystal, M.D., Robert L. McNeil professor and deputy chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry and director of the NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism. “We believe that the advances in the neuroimaging of alcoholism may be a critical step for developing medications to treat alcoholism.”

For more information about the conference please contact Krystal at 203-974-7538, 203-937-4790, or at john.krystal@yale.edu