Arpana Agrawal
James and Juanita Wittmer Professor
- Phone: 314-286-1778
- Email: arpana@nospam.wustl.edu
Additional Titles & Roles
- Psychiatry Research Committee, Chair
- McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience, Operations Committee Member
Education & Training
- PhD: Human Genetics (Quantitative): Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2004
Major Awards
- Theodore Reich Award for Early Career Contributions, International Society for Psychiatric Genetics, 2018
- Henri Begleiter Award for Research Excellence, Research Society for Alcohol, 2022
- Scott & Fuller Award for Early Career Contributions, Behavior Genetics Association, 2010
- Dean’s Impact Award, 2024
Research Interests
My research focuses on epidemiological and genomic approaches to the study of substance use and addiction. I am funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study how genetic and environmental factors work together to shape our liability to use cannabis and become addicted to it. In addition, I am co-PI of the Substance Use Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The goal of our working group is to identify common genetic variants that are related to liability for alcohol, nicotine, cannabis and other drug use disorders, and further to relate these loci (and their aggregate effect) to genetic risk for other psychiatric traits (e.g., personality) and disorders (e.g., depression).
Key Publications
- Bogdan R, Hatoum AS, Johnson EC, Agrawal A, (2023 Jan). The Genetically Informed Neurobiology of Addiction (GINA) model. Nat Rev Neurosci. 24(1): 40-57.
Read publication »The Genetically Informed Neurobiology of Addiction (GINA) model. - Miller AP, Bogdan R, Agrawal A, Hatoum AS, (2024 Jun). Generalized genetic liability to substance use disorders. J Clin Invest. 134(11):
Read publication »Generalized genetic liability to substance use disorders. - Agrawal A, Brislin SJ, Bucholz KK, Dick D, Hart RP, Johnson EC, Meyers J, Salvatore J, Slesinger P, , Almasy L, Foroud T, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Merikangas AK, Nurnberger JI, Tischfield J, Edenberg HJ, Porjesz B, (2023 Oct). The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism: Overview. Genes Brain Behav. 22(5): e12864.
Read publication »The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism: Overview. - Read publication »Evidence of CNIH3 involvement in opioid dependence.
- Read publication »Monoacylglycerol lipase (MGLL) polymorphism rs604300 interacts with childhood adversity to predict cannabis dependence symptoms and amygdala habituation: Evidence from an endocannabinoid system-level analysis.
Funded Research Projects
NIAAA(MPI):Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA)
NIDA(Significant Contributor):21/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: Research Project Site at WUSTL
NIDA(MPI):7/7 Psychiatric Genomics Consortium: Advancing Discovery and Impact
NIDA(MPI:Neurobehavioral pathways of polygenic and polyenvironmental effects on the onset and maintenance of substance involvement
NIDA(Significant Contributor):23/24 Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
NIAAA(Key Personnel):The role of remission in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol use disorder: Course, context, and offspring outcomes
NIDA(PI):Biomedical Research Training in Drug Abuse
NIDA(MPI):Early cannabis use and later opioid use disorder – the role of adverse childhood experiences, genetic liability and comorbid stimulant use
NIDA(MPI):Prenatal Cannabis Use (PCU), Pregnancy, and Development of Offspring Brain and Behavior during Early Life (0-18 months)