DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Core Support Center Grant (P30) application requests continued support for an analytic and synthetic chemistry laboratory and administrative shared core infrastructure. The participating, currently funded, constituent projects continue research programs with human laboratory and treatment clinic studies of the clinical pharmacology of abused drugs, pharmacotherapies and other treatment strategies to treat drug abuse and addictions. Drugs of interest to participating projects and assays available include nicotine and its metabolites, cocaine, methamphetamine and other phenethylamines, alcohol, MDMA, ephedra alkaloids, caffeine, gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), salvinorin, adenosine, and neurosteroids, and opiates. Analytical methods have been developed and validated in the core analytic laboratory to support studies with these drugs. Other new assays and labeled (deuterated) compounds will be made available to the associated research projects as needed. Disciplines represented by the participating projects and investigators include psychiatry, clinical psychology, neurology, general internal medicine, cardiology and clinical pharmacology, psychopharmacology, toxicology, genetics, pediatrics, pharmacy, organic, medicinal and analytical chemistry, and statistics. Our aims are: (1) to provide a state-of-the-art well equipped and staffed, analytical and synthetic chemistry laboratory resource for the participating projects of drug abuse researchers at UCSF and at other institutions. (2) To provide administrative support for manuscript preparation, IRB and related regulatory documents, grants management, and other research administrative services of value participating projects. (3) To provide statistical consulting services regarding study design and data analysis strategies, particularly optimal pharmacokinetic analysis to participating projects. The overall objective is to provide sophisticated analytic laboratory resources with stability of support together with adequate administrative support responsive to the needs of individual funded constituent scientific projects as those projects change and evolve. This facility is a cost-effective shared laboratory resource that enhances and extends research possibilities of investigators currently funded by NIH or other federal or nonfederal sources to further our understanding of human psychoactive drug use, abuse and addiction, its health consequences and its treatment management.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: When researching the causes of drug addictions, measuring the health and other consequences of drug use, and searching for effective treatments for addicted people, measures of the amount of drug actually in a person's body are often important. This grant supports a state of the art analytic chemistry laboratory that provides, to a large number of research groups, innovative, sensitive, reliable and cost effective measures of commonly used drugs like nicotine, methamphetamine, opiates and other addicting drugs.