As part of Proposition 64 funding to the CMCR, the Center is pleased to announce three new studies have been selected for funding this year. These proposals were submitted in response to the Spring 2022 call, which was open to all California higher education and nonprofit research institutions. The final selection was based on external peer review, advice of the CMCR’s National Advisory Council, and attentiveness to CMCR priorities.

Principal Investigator: Nicholas Butowski, MD, Professor of Neurological Surgery, UC San Francisco; Staci Gruber, PhD, Co-Principal Investigator, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Institution: UC San Francisco
Title: An Open-Label Clinical Trial of a Hemp-Derived, Ultra-High Cannabidiol Product for Anxiety and Pain in Patients with Glioblastoma
Funding amount: $300,000
Drs. Butowski and Gruber’s research will assess the impact of full-spectrum, hemp derived CBD product on measures of anxiety and quality of life in newly-diagnosed glioblastoma patients undergoing standard of care.

Principal Investigator: Catherine Cahill, PhD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Institution: UCLA
Title: Terpenes as Novel Analgesics - Preclinical Study
Funding amount: $300,000
Dr. Cahill’s proposed pre-clinical work will study the potential of terpenes in pain management as well as inform mechanisms and circuits by which they engage endogenous opioid systems.

Principal Investigator: Daniele Piomelli, PhD, Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Institution: UC Irvine
Title: Antinociceptive effects of phytocannabinoids in a mouse model of sickle cell disease (SCD)
Funding amount: $400,000
Dr. Piomelli’s pre-clinical study will evaluate the antinociceptive efficacy and side-effect profile of THC, CBD, and their combinations in sickle cell disease mice, with or without hydroxyurea treatment.

Congratulations to the new CMCR Investigators!

- Igor Grant, MD, Director