Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids Announces Inaugural Pilot Award Winners

The Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids (YC-SCAN²) has announced grants over $600,000 to 14 Yale School of Medicine researchers for innovative projects to understand the impact of cannabis and cannabinoids on neurodevelopment and mental health.

The competitive grants reflect YC-SCAN²’s commitment to support research that addresses the use of cannabis and its derivatives. Research findings will be disseminated and used to educate the scientific community, healthcare professionals, and the public.

YC-SCAN² was established in 2023 to advance the understanding of cannabis and its derivatives, often referred to as cannabinoids. This program is a hub for groundbreaking research, dissemination of information, and education in the field of cannabis and cannabinoid science. It is directed by Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD, Vikram Sodhi ’92 Professor of Psychiatry.

“We received a highly competitive set of applications making for a challenging selection process,” D’Souza said. We are grateful to our reviewers who brought their expertise in basic and clinical sciences in reviewing these applications.

“The projects cover a broad range of topics from the effects of cannabinoids on fetal neurodevelopment and adolescent brain development, the therapeutic potential of beta-caryophyllene for pain, to the impact of cannabis in schizophrenia,” he said. “The projects are led by investigators at different stages of their careers utilizing several novel approaches. We are optimistic that these projects will advance the science of cannabis and cannabinoids and bring Yale closer to the forefront of cutting-edge research in the area.”

Funding for the grants was made possible by Yale University. The recipients are:

• Nicola Micali, PhD, associate research scientist. Pilot Project: Defining the impact of prenatal exposure to cannabinoids on primate brain development
• Kristen Brennand, PhD, Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry. Pilot Project: Deciphering the impact of prenatal exposure to THC on psychiatric disorder risk
• Godfrey D. Pearlson, MD, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience. Pilot Project: Oral beta-caryophyllene for the treatment of chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy pain: An observational study
• Ruu Harn Cheng, PhD, postdoctoral associate. Pilot Project: Cognitive mechanisms of perceptual and reward processing in youth with and without cannabis use
• Michael J. Higley, MD, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience. Pilot Project: Consequences of developmental cannabinoid exposure for GABAergic circuits in the prefrontal cortex
• Albert Powers, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, and Jose Cortes-Briones, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry. Pilot Project: Do the brain states produced by cannabis mimic those of the earliest phases of psychosis?
• Alfred P. Kaye MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry. Pilot Project: Computational behavioral and in vivo electrophysiological characterization of the emerging cannabinoid delta-8-THC
• Ruth H. Asch, PhD, associate research scientist. Pilot Project: Establishing a preclinical model to investigate mGlu5 receptor mechanisms in cannabis use
• Alicia Che, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry. Pilot Project: Developmental mechanisms for the effects of prenatal cannabinoid exposure on prefrontal circuitry
• Renato Polimanti, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology. Pilot Project: Brain-wide pleiotropy investigation of cannabis use vs. cannabis use disorder
• Mohini Ranganathan, MD, associate professor of psychiatry. Pilot Project: Multimodal evaluation of cannabis use impact on schizophrenia risk
• Christopher Pittenger, MD, PhD, Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry, and Cheng Jiang, PhD, associate research scientist. Pilot Project: Impact of perinatal cannabinoid exposure on the histaminergic system: Relevance to tic disorders