Health & Medicine - Thursday, November 12, 2009 17:38 - 4 Comments

Reading chemical memories of past drug use

John McLean, above left, with graduate student Cody Goodwin, and John Wikswo, right, are leading a team of researchers looking for biological signatures that indicate past exposures to cocaine, alcohol, and other drugs of abuse. “In essence, we are hitting these cells with a hammer to hear how they ring and to determine if those that have been exposed to a drug ring differently,” says Wikswo. (Credit: Steve Green)

VANDERBILT (US)—A research team is trying to determine if an individual’s white blood cells retain chemical memories of exposure to drugs—like cocaine and alcohol—that can be read reliably and unambiguously. Continue…