The core mission of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai is to improve patient care through enhanced research. A key focus of our research efforts is to expand insights about human biology and population health among individuals with addictive disorders, and to develop novel treatment interventions grounded on sound scientific evidence. An example is our CBD program, which was founded on our preclinical animal studies demonstrating that CBD reduced drug-seeking behavior and normalized neurobiological systems altered by the use of heroin.

Addiction, like other psychiatric illnesses, is a brain disorder. As such, a major component of the basic, translational, and clinical research we conduct is within the neuroscience field and related disciplines anchored within the Friedman Brain Institute at Mount Sinai. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of the most internationally renowned institutions for neuroscience research with outstanding scientists in the field of addiction. Our research seeks to reveal the neurobiology underlying different factors contributing to the addiction phenotype such as reward sensitivity, compulsive behavior, inhibitory control, craving, and negative emotional states. Our research also investigates genetic contributions to addiction that not only relate to drug use vulnerability, but even to treatment response. Understanding the impact of drug use and environmental factors on epigenetic mechanisms, i.e., non-genetic factors that influence long-term molecular changes in the brain relevant to addiction risk, are also an integral part of our research objectives. At the Institute, we aim to leverage the knowledge gained from basic and translational research to inform human clinical studies and the development and implementation of novel, effective treatments.

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