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CU REACH is pleased to announce that Dr. Monika Fleshner has been awarded $3200 to support a pilot study investigating the potential for cannabidiol (CBD) to ameliorate the effects of stress, such as anxiety and problems sleeping. This was the first grant made through the newly created REACH Research Excellence Award, which is supported by private donations. CU REACH hopes to support two award cycles per year, in  the Fall and Spring, with the aim of furthering REACH’s mission of “expanding [the] ability for investigators to access pilot funding and to raise and accept funding" for important topics in Cannabis across disciplines. Funds were awarded based on peer review of submitted proposals by REACH members and scored on significance, approach, potential for future funding, budget, and overall impact. Dr. Fleshner studies CBD using rodent models, and hopes to make connections between how much CBD the rodents will voluntarily ingest and the way that inflammation changes within the rodent's internal systems. "I'm just thrilled," stated Dr. Fleshner. The support of the award "will give us much more insight and ability to analyze the cytokine data" (or the way small proteins in the body signal inflammation), that is extracted from the plasma of the rodents.

What makes the REACH Research Excellence Award unique is that awardees who are able to secure future funding based on pilot research enabled by the award agree to return double the award amount to the REACH Fund. This mechanism was built into the award by REACH members in an effort to continue to support the endowment of the fund for use by future researchers. Any parties interested in contributing to the fund may do so using