BIDDEFORD — Glenn W. Stevenson, Ph.D., UNE associate professor of psychology has received an NIH R15 renewal grant to evaluate and develop novel opioid compounds for the treatment of pain.

The grant allows Stevenson’s lab to continue working to develop new ways to enhance the pain-relieving effects of prescription drugs like morphine and oxycontin, while simultaneously investigating ways to minimize side effects like respiratory depression and addiction.

The Academic Research Enhancement Award, received by Stevenson, is grant program at the National Institutes of Health that supports faculty at undergraduate institutions who are engaged in meritorious biomedical and behavioral research platforms, with the goal of exposing undergraduates to biomedical research.

This second round of funding to the Stevenson lab comes at a very difficult time for investigators as funding rates are at 12-16% for NIH. As a result of these budget cuts in Washington, Stevenson’s initial award of $416,000 was reduced to $366,000.

Stevenson, principal investigator of the grant, said, “We’ll be using novel behavioral strategies and high-tech imaging to determine optimum fixed-ratio mixtures of delta/mu drugs with the aim of producing synergistic pain-relieving effects with decreased side effects. The funding also ensures several more years of intensive experiential learning for my undergraduate students.”

Stevenson’s research team, includes five undergraduate research assistants: Katherine Cone, Class of 2015; Phillip Atherton, Class of 2015; Emily Warner, Class of 2016; Rebecca Krivitsky, Class of 2016; and Travis Pitre, Class of 2016.

Stevenson’s research broadly focuses on methods development, medications development, pain and addiction. Past NIH-funded projects characterized interactions among osteoarthritis, exercise and drug treatment, and evaluated addiction potential of novel delta opioid compounds for the treatment of pain.