As a Mayo Clinic patient, you have the opportunity to participate in a leading-edge research program focused on the development of individualized treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction.
The program goal is to identify biomarkers associated with a predisposition to addictive disorders as well as biomarkers that reflect the ability to respond to specific treatment options. The researchers use gene mapping (genomics and epigenomics) along with analyses of blood and brain metabolites (metabolomics and magnetic resonance spectroscopy) to search for such biomarkers.
Mayo Clinic established the Samuel C. Johnson Genomics of Addiction Program with the goal of applying an individualized and more effective approach to treatment of alcohol addiction and other conditions, including addictions to prescribed narcotics, sedatives and recreational drugs, as well as nicotine dependence.
Researchers in this program also have developed an electronic clinical database that captures key clinical and demographic characteristics of all patients with addictions who are treated at Mayo Clinic and are willing to donate their DNA to a research repository.
These valuable resources should help address which genetic factors affect addiction and response to treatment. Clinical and collaborative research projects, such as the neurobiology of alcoholism and drug addiction, result in many publications and attract funding from government and private organizations.
Publications
See a list of publications by Mayo Clinic doctors on addiction treatment on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.