Neuroethics Journal Club: Hooked on Vaccines
Imagine a vaccine that causes our immune system to create antibodies against a drug like cocaine. After being vaccinated, we could snort cocaine and the antibodies would sequester the drug before it could reach our brain. A recent article in Nature Immunology’s Commentary section, “Immune to Addiction” , considers the ethical implications of such vaccines. We discussed the article at December's meeting of the Neuroethics Journal Club, led by Emory Neuroscience graduate student, Jordan Kohn. Jordan Kohn: his provocative Powerpoint for journal club momentarily made me think I was an anti-vaxxer Here's what I took away from this month's meeting: we need to integrate the different ways we study addiction. You might wonder what the ways we study substance abuse have to do with a vaccine against it. As the authors of the article say, "How substance dependence is characterized and classified informs the appropriateness of strategies aimed" at preventing or treating it. I...