The Laboratory on Neurobiology of Compulsive Behaviors is a Joint Laboratory of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) led by Dr. Veronica Alvarez. The Alvarez laboratory aims to understand the causes of substance use disorder (SUD). More specifically, we focus on the neuronal mechanisms that drive the high motivation to...

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of chronic liver diseases, leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The majority of patients with ALD also have moderate to severe alcohol use disorder (AUD). Our laboratory is investigating the immunological aspects and molecular pathogenesis of ALD and its associated liver cancer, and exploring novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of these...