{"id":252676,"date":"2026-09-08T14:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=252676"},"modified":"2026-09-08T14:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:00:10","slug":"uconn-pharmacy-ph-d-student-receives-national-research-service-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/09\/uconn-pharmacy-ph-d-student-receives-national-research-service-award\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Pharmacy Ph.D. Student Receives National Research Service Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn Pharmacology and Toxicology Ph.D. student Michael Lehane is the first SoPPS student in over 20 years to receive <\/span>the <\/span>Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA is a highly regarded and prestigious fellowship in which the government provides grants and support to Ph.D. students for their research.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lehane spent his undergraduate time here at UConn, graduating in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Neurobiology. During undergrad, he worked in behavioral neuroscience labs in the psychology department studying addiction, which ultimately led him to pursue graduate school.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Man
Michael Lehane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAs I was working in those labs, talking to professors and graduate students, I realized that I wanted to go to grad school to further my career as an independent researcher,\u201d Lehane said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Lehane studies in the pharmacology and toxicology discipline within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences with Associate Professor Gregory Sartor, working to develop potential new treatments for substance use disorders.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Sartor has nothing but praise for Lehane and his research. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“The NRSA is a highly competitive national award, and receiving it speaks to the quality of Michael’s research and to the training he has received at UConn,\u201d Sartor said. \u201cHe has worked incredibly hard to develop his research project, and I’m very proud to see him receive this recognition.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lehane uses preclinical models to see whether Hydroxynorketamine (HNK), a ketamine metabolite, can reduce opioid withdrawal and opioid-seeking behaviors. Unlike ketamine, HNK does not produce the same side effects and has no known misuse liability, making it a promising therapeutic option for opioid addiction and other psychiatry disorders.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see the effects of HNK on multiple behavioral symptoms associated with opioid dependence and withdrawal, some of which are often overlooked by current treatments for opioid use disorder,\u201d Lehane said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the future, Lehane hopes to pursue work in the industry side of pharmacy, continuing to study opioid addiction.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the NRSA, Lehane has received the 2026 Brain Digest Fellowship, 2025 Travel Award, and the 2024 Graduate Summer Fellowship, all from the Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the application process for the NRSA is long, extensive, and competitive, Lehane says it was worth it in the long run.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was immense relief and happiness when I received this award. Given the ongoing opioid epidemic, there is a tremendous need for new and effective treatment options for opioid use disorder,\u201d Lehane said. \u201cThis funding will allow us to investigate HNK as a potential therapeutic, and hopefully bring us one step closer to developing more effective treatments.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Lehane, a Ph.D. Student at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SoPPS), recently received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":252457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2734],"class_list":["post-252676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-07 05:02:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252676"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252752,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252676\/revisions\/252752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/252457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252676"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=252676"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=252676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}