WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King today announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $413,020 to Jackson Laboratory to develop an online aid for researchers studying the genetics of alcoholism and addiction. This grant is the first in five years of incremental funding that will result in nearly $2 million for research.
 
“Substance abuse and addiction destroys lives, damages, families, and hurts communities,” Senators Collins and King said in a joint statement. “This funding will support Jackson Labs as its researchers seek to better understand the science behind substance abuse and addiction so that we can work to end both.”
 
Jackson Laboratory, along with partners at Baylor University and the University of Tennessee have created GeneWeaver.org, an online knowledge discovery environment for researchers to investigate functional genomics – physical characteristics or behaviors and the genes that control them – for many different species including humans and mice. This grant funding will support further development of the behavioral neurosciences on the website, with a specific emphasis on alcoholism and addiction.
 
This funding was awarded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, one of the 27 institutes that combine to form the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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