MSPS Colloquium - Dr Gillinder Bedi

Experimental Medicine Models of Substance Use Disorders

In psychiatry, experimental medicine aims to model key aspects of psychiatric disorders in the human laboratory to test potential treatments or understand core disease characteristics. As such, these approaches can represent a translational bridge between laboratory animal studies and clinical trials. Studies can be conducted quickly and economically, allowing signal detection prior to larger clinical studies. Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) are particularly amenable to experimental medicine approaches, because the key behavioural feature of SUDs, choices to buy and use drugs, is observable and can be readily measured in the laboratory. This presentation will provide an overview of experimental medicine models of SUDs, include work with cannabis, cocaine, and heroin self-administration in human users of these drugs.