In the News

Dr. Subhash Pandey and his team received an award for a P50 Center Grant from the NIH

Posted on September 09, 2025

Dr. Subhash Pandey, and his interdisciplinary team which includes faculty from the departments of psychiatry, physiology and biophysics from the COM, the UIC research resource center facilities (RRC Bioinformatics) and the departments of biological sciences and psychology (UIC-college of liberal arts and science), and the Roy J Carver Biotechnology Center-UIUC, received an award for a P50 Center Grant from the NIH. This is one of the few Center grants funded by the NIH at UIC and brings a lot of recognition and prestige to the UIC.

Subhash C. Pandey is honored as a ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar

Posted on July 15, 2024

Dr. Subhash Pandey is honored as a ScholarGPS highly ranked scholar. Based on his prolific publication record, the high impact of work, and the outstanding quality of scholarly contributions ScholarGPS ranked Dr. Pandey as #1 scholar worldwide in the field of psychiatry-sub category Alcoholism during prior five years.

Subhash Pandey, director of the UIC Center for Research in Alcohol Epigenetics. Photo: Joshua Clark/University of Illinois Chicago.

How many drinks is too many?

Posted on September 12, 2022

A new rodent study shows that even small quantities of alcohol can trigger epigenomic and transciptomic changes in brain circuitry in an area that is crucial in the development of addiction.  What’s more, the University of Illinois Chicago researchers who conducted the study say that the pathways involved in priming the brain for addiction are the same ones that are associated with the highs of drinking, like euphoria and anxiolysis, the clinical term for a level of sedation in which a person is relaxed but awake. 

A row of various blurred liquor bottles on a bar.

Epigenome Editing Decreases Alcohol Seeking and Anxiety in Rats

Posted on May 20, 2022

More than 15 million people worldwide struggle with alcohol use disorder, a chronic relapsing condition that can have severe consequences on a person’s physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Despite its prevalence, few effective medications to treat alcohol addiction exist, and the risk of relapse after seeking treatment can be up to 90 percent within four years.

A profile silhouette with a glowing, nebula-filled brain and nodes.

Gene editing could reverse anxiety and alcohol-use disorder

Posted on May 17, 2022

Exposure to alcohol during adolescence can leave a person vulnerable to a lifetime of psychiatric challenges, such as anxiety problems and alcohol-use disorder. Epigenetic modifications arise after adolescent alcohol use, which block the expression of proteins associated with higher-order cognitive and emotional processes during adulthood. CRISPR gene editing can reverse the disruptive epigenetic modification, and alleviate anxiety and alcoholism.

Animal study shows gene editing reverses brain genetic reprogramming caused by adolescent binge drinking. (Photo: Kimson Doan on Unsplash)

A ‘factory reset’ for the brain cures anxiety, drinking behavior

Posted on May 04, 2022

“Early binge drinking can have long-lasting and significant effects on the brain and the results of this study offer evidence that gene editing is a potential antidote to these effects, offering a kind of factory reset for the brain, if you will,” said study senior author Subhash Pandey, the Joseph A. Flaherty Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics at UIC. The study is issued by researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago who have been studying the effects of early life binge drinking on health later in life.

Subhash Pandey. Photo: Joshua Clark

University Scholar Subhash Pandey

Posted on November 04, 2020

The University Scholars Program, now in its 35th year, honors faculty members for superior research and teaching, along with great promise for future achievements. The award provides $15,000 a year for three years.

Subhash Pandey, director, UIC Center for Research in Alcohol Epigenetics. Photo: Joshua Clark.

UIC to study how adolescent binge drinking impacts adult behavior

Posted on September 15, 2020

The University of Illinois Chicago has received $4.5 million in continuation funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to support the UIC site of the national Neurobiology of Adolescent Drinking in Adulthood, or NADIA, consortium. The UIC site is led by Subhash Pandey, professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics at UIC. He also will serve as a scientific director of the overall NADIA consortium. The mission of the consortium is to study how adolescent binge drinking affects genes, brain circuitry, and behaviors through epigenetics — chemical changes to DNA, RNA or proteins that alter the expression of genes without directly modifying them. This funding, which is a renewal of funding from the NIAAA first awarded in 2010, will support the consortium for five years.

Subhash Pandey, director, UIC Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics. Photo: Joshua Clark.

Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics at UIC receives $8M from NIH

Posted on June 04, 2020

The University of Illinois Chicago received $8.2 million from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to continue the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics and its research on how alcohol affects genes through epigenetics — chemical changes to DNA, RNA or proteins that alter the expression of genes without directly modifying them.

Amy Lasek (Photo: Jenny Fontaine)

Does estrogen influence alcohol use disorder?

Posted on June 01, 2020

A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago shows that high estrogen levels may make alcohol more rewarding to female mice. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that treatment for alcohol use disorder or binge drinking behavior may be more effective if sex differences are considered. Amy Lasek, associate professor of psychiatry and anatomy and cell biology, led the research, which looked specifically at estrogen receptors in the brain to determine the mechanisms by which estrogen regulates alcohol sensitivity.

Subhash Pandey, director, UIC Center for Research in Alcohol Epigenetics.

Mechanism connects early binge drinking to adult behaviors

Posted on November 18, 2019

University of Illinois Chicago researchers report that intermittent exposure to high levels of alcohol in adolescent animals leads to increased levels of microRNA-137 — a molecule that regulates gene expression in cells — in the brains of adults. Their findings, which are published in the journal eNEURO, also show that blocking microRNA-137 in adulthood helps to reverse or reduce the lasting effects of youth drinking in animal models, such as increased alcohol use and anxiety. “MicroRNA-137 is an important part of normal brain development, but when young brains are exposed to high amounts of alcohol intermittently, as happens with binge drinking behavior, the molecule’s regular function is altered,” said Subhash Pandey, professor of psychiatry and director of the UIC Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics. “By altering microRNA-137 levels, binge drinking actually rewires the brain.”

Adolescent drinking increases anxiety and alcohol abuse risk later in life

Posted on November 18, 2019

Teenage binge drinking is linked to altered gene expression in the brain, specifically the central nucleus of the amygdala. Adolescent rats exposed to alcohol had increased levels of miR-137, resulting in lower expression of proteins essential for healthy neuron growth. During adulthood, these rats displayed higher levels of anxiety and an increased preference for alcohol consumption.