Imagine you are a scientist who has been studying, researching, writing papers and submitting grants continuously for years. One day, you apply for a pilot grant from the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI). A few months later, you find out you have been awarded the grant, which will enable you to test your idea.
This is exactly what happened to Joshua Gowin, PhD, associate professor of radiology in the CU Anschutz School of Medicine.
“It was exciting,” Gowin said. “And it was definitely helpful for motivation to get a 'reward' and peer-recognition for your work every once in a while.”
Reward is the key concept here. Gowin is a neuroscientist who uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study the reward center in our brains. With his CCTSI pilot grant he looked at how naltrexone, an FDA-approved drug used to treat alcohol dependency, changes the brain’s response to reward.
“Survival depends on reward,” Gowin said. “You have to be motivated to do the things to survive.” Dysfunctions in reward processing in the brain are linked to mood and substance use disorders. One of the theories behind these disorders is that some people may have an overly sensitive reward response to substances or socialization, or a response that is not sensitive enough.
Gowin examined how naltrexone affects the brain’s reward center because the drug is used to treat alcohol use disorder. He said that “reward” is one of the aspects of behavioral and neurological response to naltrexone — and one of the reasons that naltrexone is used to treat alcohol dependency. It is an opioid antagonist, a blocker, for an opioid receptor in the brain. Opioids can regulate reward, and by blocking the opioid receptor, drinking alcohol becomes less rewarding.
“I have been studying substance use and alcohol use disorder for a long time, and I feel like one of the things I have tried to move toward is a better understanding of how neuroscience can go hand-in-hand with clinical care,” Gowin said. “To that end, I wanted to better understand the impact of a frontline treatment [naltrexone] on brain function.”
In the case of Gowin, the pilot grant enabled him to conduct a pivotal preliminary study, publish the results, and use the data to apply for a much larger NIH grant (R01), which he received in 2024. The new funding is helping him advance his work to understand the reward center of the brain. The current study looks at people who enter a treatment facility for alcohol use disorder. Researchers will conduct a fMRI scan soon after participants arrive and again after the person has maintained abstinence. Because the scans will reveal brain response based on blood flow, the results will ideally help answer the question, “How does not drinking for a period of time change brain function?”
The CCTSI pilot grant has had multiple impacts beyond Gowin’s pilot project. Once he received the pilot grant, he was able to hire and retain the individuals who work in his lab. Last year, he was promoted from assistant to associate professor in radiology. In his new role, he is known for providing excellent mentorship to post docs, residents and junior faculty.
Natalie Serkova, MSC, PhD, CCTSI, pilot grant program director, believes that one of the most important aspects of the grant is the impact it makes on translational science. Translational science is the field that generates innovations that can be scientific, operational, financial or administrative – and that address longstanding challenges. The result is research that is faster, more efficient, and more impactful.
“Each of us is very focused on his or her specific niche of research or technology. But the CCTSI brings multiple perspectives to the table to let faculty think in a big picture way,” Serkova said. “Not just their particular question that they have to answer with a high precision, but how the answer to their question can help to decipher a broader understanding of translational science. In the case of Dr. Gowin’s focus, he translates his CCTSI pilot findings to a broad understanding of the neuroscience basis of reward and addiction.”
Gowin’s use of fMRI can be translated to other psychiatric conditions such as anorexia, bulimia, and depression. It can also be used to study intellectual capacities, such as listening to music, autism, or childhood development. “fMRI, which is based on oxygenation of the blood, can be translated to the kidney or to the muscles to extend the impact even more,” said Serkova.
Gowin said, “I am focused on the state of clinical care. I hope the kind of knowledge we are able to generate is an inspiration to people, that they may better understand the condition of their loved ones or themselves.
I hope it is inspiring and empathy-generating. I hope it will give people a sense of `Here is what is going on in a biological level. Here is how it might relate to the condition they are dealing with and what a path to recovery might look like.’”
Photo at top: Joshua Gowin, PhD, sits in his office on the CU Anschutz campus.