Novel approaches for assessing the relationship between stress, cognition, and alcohol biomarkers in real-time - PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a heterogeneous and relapsing illness. Poor treatment outcomes for AUD highlight the need to investigate the mechanisms that increase risk for harmful alcohol use. Two factors that have been independently associated with harmful alcohol use are stress and executive function. However, the use of objective biomarkers and longitudinal assessments to assess these variables in the real-world settings is limited. Further, these variables are predominantly investigated in treatment-seeking individuals, potentially limiting the generalizability of findings to the larger AUD population. Thus, this K01 will investigate the relationship between objective measures of stress, executive function, and alcohol use in laboratory and real-world settings in non-treatment seeking individuals with AUD. Aim 1 will characterize the relationships between laboratory and real-world stress biomarker measures. Aim 2 will examine the associations between stress and alcohol biomarkers in real-world settings. Aim 3 will determine if the relationship between stress and alcohol biomarkers is moderated by executive function in real-world settings. Findings from this study have the potential to improve assessment accuracy and the field’s understanding of mechanisms underlying the addiction cycle, as well as inform interventions for AUD. Situated in a supportive environment within the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at Washington State Univeristy Health Sciences Spokane, I have access to well-funded mentors, space, equipment, and protected time to conduct my research. To gain the expertise needed to complete the proposed aims, a comprehensive mentoring training plan has been developed for me to: 1) gain expertise in the identification and assessment of mechanisms that drive drinking behavior in order to inform interventions; 2) gain expertise in collecting, managing, and analyzing intensive longitudinal data (i.e., ecological momentary assessment); and 3) acquire proficiency in utilizing biomarkers and innovative technologies to assess stress, cognitive function, and alcohol use in laboratory and real-world settings. The proposed training plan integrates mentorship from experts in basic and applied human research (McPherson), mechanisms of behavioral change and the ecological validity of remote neuropsychosocial assessments (Chaytor), intensive longitudinal assessments and ecological momentary assessment methods (Cleveland), mobile health technologies (Ghasemzadeh), stress and the addiction cycle (Sinha), and biomarker analyses (Hill-Kapturczak). This Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will provide vital protected time, resources, and mentorship that will build on my previous training and support my long-term career goal of becoming a successful independent investigator with a research program that utilizes basic and applied research methods in real-world settings to investigate mechanisms that underlie addiction and inform interventions for substance use disorders.
