Research Groups
DIBS programmatic initiatives recognize the need to focus resources on key areas, to be broad enough to engage the full spectrum of the brain sciences that exist at Duke, and to be flexible enough to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. To meet these objectives, the institute supports the development of DIBS Research Groups—which include faculty, postdocs, students and staff from across campus who are united by a common interest in an area of brain science that is especially suited to advancement by interdisciplinary study. Each research group is expected to develop a balanced program that promotes research addressing both fundamental and translational issues. Our vision is that successful research groups will develop into self-supporting centers that derive substantial funding for research and training from federal, private, and corporate sponsors.
We currently have two Research Groups: DIBS-ARG and DIBS-CAC.
DIBS Addiction Research Group (DIBS-ARG)
A group promoting interactions among basic, clinical, behavioral, epidemiological, sociological, and public policy scientists who are engaged in research or clinical intervention and treatment of any form of addiction: substances, food, gambling, etc.
Addiction in its many forms has adverse consequences for individuals, families and society. A highly complex behavioral disorder, addiction is mediated by and has effects on diverse processes including learning, memory, motivation, reward, affect, and decision making. Moreover, addiction results from a diverse array of interacting causal factors including genes, socioeconomic status, drug availability, cultural practices, family, and peers. Finally, addiction is a dynamic process that unfolds across development and involves multiple stages ranging from initiation, maintenance, dependence, quitting, lapse and relapse. The DIBS-ARG is the first step in helping to build a community of scientists with shared interests in the neural mechanisms responsible for addictive behaviors, the development of effective treatments for these disorders, and the design of effective prevention programs. Membership in DIBS-ARG is open to faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and staff at Duke.
- DIBS-ARG has an active monthly Translational Addiction Seminar Series.
See the Full 2009-2010 Schedule Here
Join DIBS-ARG! As a subscriber, you will be informed about upcoming DIBS/Duke events—workshops, seminars, journal clubs—that are especially relevant to addiction research. In addition, the DIBS-ARG plans to build a communication tool that will facilitate the sharing of equipment, reagents, techniques and ideas among addiction investigators at Duke. Fill out the form here.
DIBS Cognitive and Affective Control Research Group (DIBS-CAC)
A group for those interested in cognitive and affective control, including memory, attention, perception, decision making, emotion, and motivation.
The study of control processes has become a common theme across cognitive, affective, and translational neuroscience. Although researchers in these domains investigate important aspects of memory, emotion, attention, and other functions in terms of different bottom-up, relatively automatized processes, a recent major focus of all these fields is the study of the top-down mechanisms coordinated by frontal and parietal regions that control, monitor, and modulate these cognitive functions. As a result, concepts and theories regarding cognitive and affective control processes are becoming the lingua franca that allows communications across different research domains in cognitive and affective neuroscience, as well as with translational and clinical applications. Thus, the study of control processes provides an ideal overarching framework for fostering synergies across these domains, which is the main goal of the DIBS-CAC Research Group. This group has an active seminar series and a bi-weekly journal club, with membership open to anyone (students, staff, and faculty) interested in this aspect of the brain sciences.
The DIBS-CAC Journal Club meets every other Wednesday in LSRC B240 from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided.
The Seminar Series meets every Friday in Old Chem, Room 116 from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided.
Join DIBS-CAC!
To subscribe to “dibs-cac@duke.edu”, please do the following:
1) Go to https://lists.duke.edu/sympa, 2) Enter your Duke ID and password – if you are not affiliated with Duke, use the contact us form here and specify that you wish to be added to the DIBS-CAC mailing list, 3) In “Search for List” enter “dibs-cac” and then select this list, and 4) In “List of Operations” on the bottom left click on “Subscribe”
Research Themes
Our four research themes are:
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