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                            Funding & Awards
 A More Timely Process for Identifying and Analyzing Trends of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances in the United States
Note:
              This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Awardee
              TEMPLE UNIVERSITY-OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Award #
              2017-R2-CX-0002
Funding Category
              RESEARCH
Location
                    Philadelphia, PA
Congressional District
              2
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2017
Total funding (to date)
              $99,993
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY17 Graduate Research Fellowship Program in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2017, $49,994)
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS), also known as designer drugs, research chemicals, or legal highs, are drugs available for purchase from unregulated websites or illicit sources, with effects and dosing largely speculated or unknown. NPS are often related to common drugs of abuse or previously characterized NPS, with chemical modifications to produce more desirable effects or evade legislation. This study seeks more timely identification and characterization of NPS within high risk drug using populations in the United States, focusing on emergence and prevalence. In the United States, there is no centralized mechanism for the collection and compilation of data on the identity and incidence of emerging drugs derived from the NPS marketplace, and their contribution to fatalities and adverse events that end up in the emergency room, with emergency medical services, or in police custody. Drug monitoring initiatives (DMI) have been developed and adopted to track seized drug material; most notably the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) organized by the DEA, and other DMI state programs in New Jersey and New Hampshire. Other countries have adopted drug monitoring programs with early warning systems to alert law enforcement and medical personnel  most notably the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
Due to this lack of national organization on illicit and emerging drug monitoring, specific to drug ingestion and NPS use, this proposed project looks to begin a drug monitoring database through multidimensional analysis of sample extracts. To achieve this goal, the project will be divided into three main aims: (1) generation of up-to-date compound and library databases with frequent updates to stay in front of the ever-changing markets, (2) sample analysis and detection of NPS for in-depth identification, and (3) data compilation and determination of NPS use. Achieving these aims will allow for better identification, characterization, and overall education on NPS use, emergence, and prevalence.
Sample vial extracts will be collected from partnering laboratories and analyzed in-house. Initial analysis will be performed by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF) for high resolution accurate mass determination. Drug detection rates and identity will be compiled over the course of the project, with additional identification and monitoring of unknown NPS and/or drugs of abuse. The overall outcome of this project will provide the most accurate and timely analysis of NPS, a drug market proven to be dangerous and life-altering.
This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.
ca/ncf
Supplemental Award 1 (Fiscal Year 2018, $49,999)
The applicant proposes a research project to demonstrate the feasibility of a national database to monitor the changes in the nature and prevalence of designer drugs within high risk drug populations in the United States.
"Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law," and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR  200.210(a)(14).
nca/ncf


  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Validating a novel tool for coding body worn camera footage of police-community member interactions
                  Challenges in Identifying Novel Psychoactive Substances and a Stronger Path Forward
                  Concentrations of Para-Fluorofuranylfentanyl in Paired Central and Peripheral Blood Collected during Postmortem Death Investigations
                  Phenethyl-4-ANPP: A Marginally Active Byproduct Suggesting a Switch in Illicit Fentanyl Synthesis Routes
                  Evaluation of Synthetic Cannabinoid Metabolites in Human Blood in the Absence of Parent Compounds: A Stability Assessment
                  Eutylone Intoxications-An Emerging Synthetic Stimulant in Forensic Investigations
                  A More Timely Process for Identifying and Analyzing Trends of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances in the United States
                  Spreading the Word on Novel Drugs
                  Detection and characterization of the new synthetic cannabinoid APP-BINACA in forensic casework
                  Sample Mining and Data Mining: Combined Real-Time and Retrospective Approaches for the Identification of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances

  
Date Created: September 22, 2017
    
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