Addiction

Students apply mathematical modeling to drug addiction and recovery in summer research program

Colleen Rich — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 14:17:34 +0000

Students apply mathematical modeling to drug addiction and recovery in summer research program Colleen Rich Thu, 08/03/2023 - 10:17

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) chose five sites across the United States for its inaugural summer SIAM-Simons Undergraduate Research Program in applied mathematics and computational science. ��AV, and specifically the Department of Mathematical Sciences in the College of Science, was one of those sites.

Mason professor Padhu Seshaiyer (second from left) and Mason PhD student Alonso Ogueda-Oliva (far right) work with SIAM-Simons program participants Diego Gonzalez and Adan Baca. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Mason Science mathematics professor Padmanabhan (Padhu) Seshaiyer served as program mentor with support from Mason mathematical PhD student Alonso Ogueda-Oliva. The two selected undergraduate students were Adan Baca from the University of Arizona and Diego Gonzalez of the University of La Verne in Fontana, California, who tackled how computational science might inform the road to recovery from drug addiction.

For their six weeks at Mason, Baca and Gonzalez worked with their mentors to learned how to conduct scientific research and effectively communicate mathematics and computational science principles. The goal was for the students to gain an improved understanding of how their ongoing education can translate into a career in applied mathematics and computational science.

Working at Mason’s Fairfax Campus, the team researched drug addiction and built computational simulations to better understand pathways for recovery and patient detox journeys. Students also engaged with Mason College of Public Health Associate Professor Holly Matto, who shared important insights into addiction behavior that helped enhance the mathematical models, further demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary research.

Undergraduates Adan Baca and Diego Gonzalez traveled to Mason for the SIAM-Simons research opportunity. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Baca was excited about the research opportunity the program provided. “For me, it was the internal motivation to do something with my major beyond just turning in my homework,” he said. “I could research something that interests me to create real and useful results to benefit someone beyond the grade on my transcript.”

Gonzalez started the program concerned about his ability to keep up. “But the very opposite to what I expected happened,” said Gonzalez. “This opportunity convinced me of the value of graduate school and that a welcoming, supportive mentor could definitely encourage me to succeed, which is very important in this environment.”

“This supported opportunity for the Mason MASTER (Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation for the grand challenges through innovative Training Education and Research) program created a special summer for me,” Seshaiyer said. “The two undergraduate students clearly blossomed over the six weeks—from not having done any research at all to really producing something that was quite substantial, involving modeling, analysis, and simulation that is publishable, meaningful, and impactful.”

Seshaiyer recently received the 2023 Council on Undergraduate Research’s (CUR) Mathematical, Computing and Statistical Sciences Advanced Career Mentor Award, an annual award which honors one faculty mentor nationwide for their success in mentoring undergraduate students in mathematics and computer science research.

The summer program ended with a research presentation to Mason faculty, students, SIAM representatives, and parents.

“These students gained experience both in the abstract space as a foundation while also learning how to apply it to something that matters today—in this case right on the edge of pushing the boundaries of what we know and understand about addiction and recovery,” said Karen Bliss, SIAM senior manager of education and outreach. “To be at a place where they understand the model and make predictions is amazing.”

“This program demonstrated the value of strong mentorship to create the right foundation for success and that students who are curious about big societal problems can in fact learn how to apply mathematical principles and hone their research and modeling skills to solve them,” said College of Science dean Fernando Miralles Wilhelm. “We are very thankful to be selected in this impactful inaugural program from SIAM and The Simons Foundation and look forward to additional opportunities to participate.”

Other mentor sites selected this year were the Moffitt Cancer Center, Rice University, Youngstown State University, and Arizona State University. The applications for the next cycle of SIAM member mentors are open now. Application review will begin August 30, 2023, and the student participant application for summer 2024 will open in December 2023.

Topics

computational science

Addiction

Introducing the Innovate for Good Series

John Brandon Cantrell — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:52:43 +0000

Introducing the Innovate for Good Series John Brandon C… Fri, 02/04/2022 - 08:52

Innovate for Good is a new ongoing series that examines how faculty in the College of Health and Human Services are improving health outcomes using technology such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and personal apps.

Part I: Reducing Caregiver Stress & Improving Recovery Cues

By its very nature, the practice of social work involves people. After all, the definition of social work is, essentially, people helping people. But in an era of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and machine learning, technology is playing an increasingly central role in how people help people.

In ��AV’s College of Health and Human Services, faculty members from the Department of Social Work are embracing technological innovation in its many forms to advance the practice of social work.

“In the field of social work, our goal has always been to figure out how to help those in our communities, whether through practice, organizational leadership, or policymaking,” said Emily S. Ihara, chair of the Department of Social Work. “What’s new is that we’re looking at fresh ways to gather more data to assess how we can best and most efficiently create social change.”

Innovate for Good begins with two ways researchers are using apps and virtual reality to improve the lives and health of those they work with.

Managing and Minimizing Caregiver Stress with a Phone

Caregiver burnout? There’s an app for that.

Funded by a Virginia Center on Aging, Alzheimer’s & Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF) grant of $45,000, Ihara and Cathy Tompkins, professor of Social Work, are working with developers Ram Balasubramanian and Atreya Chaganty to help those who provide care for people living with dementia.

They are evaluating use of an app called Zelar developed by health care company Mantrah. This app will be geared toward caregivers with the intent of helping them manage the care of both the dementia patients they help and themselves.

“Care partners are often overwhelmed,” said Ihara. “The idea is that caregivers will enter information about different aspects of the care plan and they will be given reminders and helpful tips to provide organization.”

The app will have several features, including care plan creation, the ability for collaboration with other caregivers, plus self-care plans, a journaling option, and insights that provide feedback to caregivers on their reported performance.

“We’re trying to see if we can use technology to reduce caregiver stress,” said Ihara.

The project, Managing Mental Health Through Technology: Examining the Effects of Collaborative Care Management Technology Application, is being developed with Mantrah.

“In the field of social work, our goal has always been to figure out how to help those in our communities, whether through practice, organizational leadership, or policymaking. What’s new is that we’re looking at fresh ways to gather more data to assess how we can best and most efficiently create social change.”

Emily S. Ihara, Chair of the Department of Social Work

Harnessing the Power of Recovery Cues with Virtual Reality

A multidisciplinary team of researchers, working across four colleges and centers at Mason, is using technology to develop customized, real-time recovery supports to prevent drug relapse.

The research team is made up of Holly Matto in the Department of Social Work, along with Padmanabhan Seshaiyer in Mason’s College of Science, Stephanie Carmack in Mason’s Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions, Nathalia Peixoto in Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering, Siddharth Bhattacharya in Mason’s School of Business, plus graduate students in engineering Vinicius Zanini and Bryce Dunn and in social work Cate Feldkamp, as well as Rudra Nagalia, a Mason intern and student at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, in Pilani, India.

The team hypothesizes that they can disrupt the drug trigger-craving-relapse cycle by reorienting people to what is personally rewarding in their lives and regulating the brain and body’s response to drug triggers. These are known as recovery cues.

This idea was inspired by Matto’s work in the field of addiction and from the lived experiences of people in recovery. After treatment, individuals often go back to the same environments that trigger a desire to use drugs, resulting in a need for ongoing, consistent support.

“Because craving can still be quite intense even after months of abstinence, real-time interventions to support recovery are essential to preventing relapse long-term,” said Matto. Examples of recovery cues include music, soundscapes, inspirational quotes, and more.

The Mason team and its industry partner, Brightline Interactive, are examining the effects of recovery cues using virtual reality simulations. The work is being supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse through a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grant.

“Rather than focusing on drug triggers, our team believes that by focusing on the rewarding parts of their lives, their recovery cues and supports, individuals in recovery can strengthen and grow,” said Matto.

Virtual reality is unique among other technological enhancements in that it can recreate some elements of the social situations and physical environments that typically trigger relapse, allowing patients to practice skills they will need when they encounter such situations in real life.

Along with investigating recovery cues using virtual reality, the team is developing their Recovery Engaged Mind (REMind-h) app. In this app, individuals in recovery will be able to upload their customized recovery cues according to their preferred sensory modality (visual, auditory, tactile) and content category (people, places, objects), and be able to access these cues when experiencing intense craving.

Innovate for Good is an ongoing series that examines how Mason faculty in the College of Health and Human Services are harnessing technology to improve health outcomes.

Topics

Healthcare Technology

Addiction

Recovery

In the George

J-RIG Offers Rapid Response Research Grants for Studies of Addiction Treatment in Justice-Related Settings

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:25:16 +0000

J-RIG Offers Rapid Response Research Grants for Studies of Addiction Treatment in Justice-Related Settings Andrew J Schappert Tue, 04/20/2021 - 13:25

In This Story

Faye S. Taxman

You have a great idea for a new study related to the treatment of opioid addiction, but the thought of writing a proposal that might not be funded for months is daunting. Or, you would like to have some seed money to do a pilot study before facing the large grant application. JCOIN’s Rapid Innovation Grant program (J-RIG) is here for just such a dilemma.

J-RIG facilitates and, importantly, accelerates research on policies and practices affecting individuals in the criminal justice system. J-RIG provides researchers with quickly approved, small grants targeting new efforts to address prevention and treatment of addiction in justice, or justice-related, settings. Applicants may request up to $110,000 for a study of 6 months to 2 years.

J-RIG is the latest initiative funded through the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network—JCOIN— a program within the National Institutes of Health’s Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) Initiative, a collaborative effort to provide scientific solutions to the opioid crisis.

The goals of J-RIG, said JCOIN director Faye Taxman, “are to fund research that will create quick changes, leading to higher quality care. We see a desperate need to speed up the pace of change while maintaining scientific and academic excellence…We are seeking to support innovation and ideas that are often mired in bureaucracy and paperwork.” Decisions on funding are typically made in 90 days.

Two J-RIG grants have been approved and are underway.

In Vermont, researchers at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine are undertaking a statewide evaluation of how medications are used for opioid use disorder among those in the state’s correctional facilities, as well as studying the effects of COVID-19 on incarcerated populations. Assistant Professor Elias Klemperer at the university’s Vermont Center on Behavior and Health in the Department of Psychiatry is leading that program.
Washington, D.C.-based Rulo Strategies LLC, along with Wayne State University and the National Center for State Courts, is examining the effects of COVID-19 remote treatment teleservices in judicially led diversion programs. The national study will look at how courts use telehealth services. Rulo Strategies is led by Tara Kunkel.

While opioids are a key priority for J-RIG projects, applications may focus more broadly on other substance use issues, particularly substances associated with overdose and overdose mortality. Projects should have direct relevance to individuals who are justice-involved, but need not take place within justice settings. Those applying for grants may come from universities, nonprofit organizations, or private businesses.

J-RIG funding is available three times per year, with the call for proposals available January 5, March 20, and July 1. Typically, one project is funded in each funding cycle. Applications for the March 20 funding cycle are due May 6. Funding is open to those who work in research, policy, and practice settings. These studies will provide opportunities to learn about local initiatives, policy changes, or practice improvement efforts. For more information, contact jcpilot@gmu.edu.

At ��AV, the Coordination and Translation Center for JCOIN is managed by the 10-year-old Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence, ACE!, at Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government. ACE! is led by Schar School professor Faye Taxman and Danielle Rudes, an associate professor in Mason’s Department of Criminology, Law, and Society.

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

ACE!

Criminal Justice

Addiction

Schar School News April 2021

Using virtual reality to support addiction recovery

Colleen Rich — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 09:05:59 +0000

Using virtual reality to support addiction recovery Colleen Rich Mon, 10/19/2020 - 05:05

Topics

National Institutes of Health

Addiction

Substance Use

College of Health and Human Services

Volgenau School of Engineering

College of Science

Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions

Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP)

Research

faculty spotlight

CHHS News

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

TTIP

Tech Talent Investment Program

Can virtual reality help people with substance abuse issues avoid a relapse? A team of ��AV researchers thinks it just might.

Image courtesy of Brightline Interactive

The multidisciplinary team, which includes faculty members Holly Matto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Stephanie Carmack, and Nathalia Peixoto, and graduate student Matthew Scherbel, is working with Brightline Interactive to examine the effects of recovery cues, using virtual reality simulations, on neurophysiological regulation to prevent drug relapse.

The work is supported by a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Institutes of Health. Brightline Interactive is a team of creative technologists that designs and builds virtual reality experiences, specializing in rapid development of custom end-to-end hardware/software solutions. These solutions use immersive virtual reality/augmented reality/extended reality technologies and techniques, such as motion, object, optical and facial tracking, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and sensor-integration, to allow for simulated utilization of physical objects in virtual reality environments for simulation and training purposes.

Matto is a social worker who worked with individuals in recovery from substance use before she became a university professor. She has used that practice experience to guide her research with diverse clinical populations.

“It’s my favorite population to work with,” said Matto, who is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work in the College of Health and Human Services.

Matto found that the first weeks in recovery are a tricky time for individuals in recovery, with a critical need for support to maintain their sobriety goals, especially when it comes to dealing with triggers, those sensory reminders of their substance use within their environment that might cause a relapse.

“It takes more than a strong commitment to be sober,” Matto says. “You may not be able to think your way through [when triggered].”

She said research shows that intensity of craving experience can still be quite high even after two months of abstinence. This led Matto to think about the importance of real-time interventions to support recovery when these individuals leave treatment.

“We are interested in understanding how we can disrupt the drug trigger-craving-relapse chain by using customized recovery cue substitutions—positive stimuli associated with recovery—to regulate the brain and body’s reaction to the people, places, objects and other daily stimuli that increase relapse risk for people in recovery,” she said.

The intervention the team is working on with Brightline involves virtual reality and having the person wearing the VR goggles interact with triggering objects while being able to assess their physiological response.

The team did some preliminary work this summer with students in Mason’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program. One of their interns, Noah Egan, a 2020 Brentsville District High School graduate, taught himself how to use the game engine Unity in order to create what is very similar to a 3D video game in which a person would interact with an addiction trigger or cue.

“We have some new ideas that haven’t been used in social work before, which is the point of adding engineering to a community problem,” said Peixoto, an associate professor in the Volgenau School of Engineering who mentored Egan. “[This intervention] is a little bit more than game design and a little bit more than computer science, because we want to measure physiological variables.”

The Brightline-Mason team plans to build on this initial work and create an in-session interactive VR task that tracks the participant's gaze in order to understand where they are fixating attention on each recovery cue. From this data, the team can assess what imagery is particularly attractive to each participant and identify which cues cause a particular physiological reaction.

The results may lead to the development of a nonpharmacological mobile recovery support system to help individuals manage cravings and avoid relapse.

“I am really excited about this project, not only because it addresses such a critical issue, as we have seen increases in substance use during pandemic, but also because it represents an extraordinary collaboration among technology industry professionals, university faculty, community clinical care, and individuals in recovery,” said Rebekah Hersch, interim associate vice president for research and innovation at Mason. “As with nearly all complex problems, it takes a multidisciplinary team to tackle the problem and make a real difference in the lives of so many people.”