A way out of the trap

As daunting as this may seem, I am committed to removing addiction from society. Nearly 19.7 million American adults battled a substance use disorder in 2017. Children are also at risk; repetitive speech, obsessive behavior, isolation, PTSD manifest exponentially. In England nearly 100,000 children are suffering PTSD each day.

We will be targeting specific neurons that react to the addiction; for example, if one is addicted to the use of tobacco, whenever he/she uses tobacco, parts of the neuron will react and give the sense of satisfaction to the human brain. My job is to locate these neurons and remove them from the engram cell. By removing these neurons, the patient will no longer feel the joy from their addiction. Eliminating the association between euphoric sensation will be an effective treatment of addiction.
Addiction free, children and adults can begin again to actively reach their potential and a meaningful life.

Healthy cities begin with citizens who feel engaged in and hopeful about life. Addiction is a worldwide disorder that drains the world of hope and meaning. The use of drugs alone affects approximately 29.5 million people in the world, needless to say there are many millions of people out there that are using substances other than drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco. Globally, researchers have found that the amount of alcohol consumer every year has increased by as much as 70% compared to statistics in 1990, an increase of almost 15 million liters of alcohol per year. Cities worldwide are threatened at the very core of what makes a city viable and future orientated. The human psyche, fragile, is under constant threat from changes in populations and technology, isolation and the stress to compete. The field of addiction is very poorly funded. At the global level, only one out of six people in need of drug dependence treatment has access to treatment programs. This is causing an addiction crisis, a negative cycle that seems unbreakable for millions. Some major contributing factors to addiction are poverty, stress, social fragmentation of families, an sadly many more, too many to name here.

The patients ask for a way out of addiction, a global problem with no global solution. People that we treat are constantly in belief that they have no hope due to the lack of treatment, and they are forever trapped in a loop that is causing their lives to spiral into the darkness. Through stereo tactic injections of vectors, we allow the neurons that triggers the addiction to ‘show themselves’. Eventually, we eliminate the association between the addiction product and its effect. This brand new neurological intervention will provide the patients and healthy cities a way to stop the cycle of domestic abuse, the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, deaths from overdose and the negative effects on unborn children. Crime, unemployment, divorce, and homelessness can then be mitigated. For all these problems are many times born from addiction.

Memory engram cells are a group of intermediate neurons that associate with different events and represent a precept, memory, or concept in brains. The association is formed during the course of learning. Memory engram technology can be used to label and manipulate the specific memory engram cells in particular brain regions. Cocaine addiction associated engram cells have been found in the brains of animal model. When these engram cells were abolished or suppressed, the addictive behavior of animal model was significantly relieved. Thus, selectively eliminating the memory engram of the inter neurons associated with addiction.

‘A Way Out of the Trap’ is a three step process:

Step 1. The design of the gene transfer system: firstly, this system should be able to identify the engram cells under a “turn on” situation. Temporal specificity of labeling is achieved by the exogenously controlled gene regulation systems (turn on), such as tetracycline, rapamycin, RU486.  Memory engram technology which is based on the experimental fusion of immediate early gene, such as c-fos, arc, that can be used to identify the engram cells. The transcription factor CREB and ΔFosB are also related to addiction associated memory, they could be used to identify the engram cells, too. Afterwards, the system can initiate synaptic pruning process in the target engram cells. 

Step 2. Location of the gene delivery sites: It has been reported that the hippocampus mediates contextual control of drug self-administration, the dorsal stratum mediates stimulus–response habitual responding for drug reinforcement, and the amygdala mediates conditioned drug seeking. Regarding to different situations of addictive patients, it is necessary to determine the appropriate sites of brain for gene therapy.

Step 3. Identification of the special mental state: to identify the engram cells associated with addiction, the subjects must be in a particular mental state, such as the onset of drug addiction or a euphoric state after drug use. In this particular mental state, the targeted immediate early gene shall be expressed in the engram cells that is associated with addiction. Meanwhile, the exogenously controlled gene regulation system is turned on, so that these engram cells are recognized and future pruning mechanism is activated to erase the addiction associated memory. 

Methods such as stereotactic injection will be used. The research calls for a newly created vector (Application to current technology) with three parts: Exogenous control element, Endogenous control element, and a synaptic pruning gene. For the exogenous control element, substances such as tetracycline, rapamycin, RU486 will be used, and for endogenous control element, experimental fusion of immediate early genes will need to be identified, so substances such as arc or c-fos can be used. After the expression of both control elements, the synaptic pruning process is ready to begin.

Stereotactic injection is not a new technology, yet what we are designing is a more precise version. In this research, we would need the injection to be so precise that it will only be injected into one small part/area of the human brain to prevent further damage.

Our short term goal is to create the precise device needed for the injection, and in the long term, we hope that with the new version of the injector, we are able to begin animal trials and the elementary processes of our research.

We are currently only a hypothesis.

We hope to start animal trials.

Funds, trials.

To do further research and contacting more places.

My research grew out from research specialist Li Bin at Georgetown University. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to work with professor Bin, from this, my original research was born.

Staffs only include me and Mr. Bin.

We have researched all the latest reports on this field and we are confident that with further testing and trials, our hypothesis can be proved true.

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