Collaborations and Partnerships

The Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics (CAST) is invested in building collaborations and partnerships locally and nationally to advance research and education in substance use and mental health disorders. One important part of our mission is to effectively communicate our latest discoveries and scientific understanding of substance use and mental health disorders and other brain-based diseases to the public through our outreach efforts. 
icons showing a map and science leading to collaboration and policy change

Innovation and Commercialization

CAST has established several agreements with industry partners related to drug discovery for substance use and mental health disorders. We continue our excellence in drug discovery through structural and small molecule based medicinal chemistry.

Aether Therapeutics

Aether Therapeutics is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on curing diseases associated with the opioid epidemic and finding better therapies for pain. The Aether team combines decades of successful drug development experience focused on curing diseases not simply treating symptoms.

Filament Health

Filament Health is a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company. Filament’s mission is to see that safe, natural psychedelics are available to everyone who needs them, as soon as possible.  

LifeInSight BioTherapeutics

LifeInSight BioTherapeutics was established to fund collaborative research designed to optimize treatments for mental illness and SUDs. In 2016, a team of elite scientists from some of the most prestigious medical universities in the country formed an alliance to develop such treatments. CAST collaborated with LifeInSight to produce educational videos (links below) on topics SUDs and other brain disorders.  


LIS  Depress 55 - Stress Related Disorders  

LIS  Neur 55 - Alzheimer's Disease  

LIS Addiction 55 - Addiction and Substance Use Disorders

MapLight Therapeutics, Inc.

MapLight Therapeutics, Inc. is committed to developing a better understanding of brain circuitry and targeting the specific circuits that misfire in brain disorders. By combining proprietary technologies to identify and treat the defining symptoms of some of the most challenging central nervous system disorders, MapLight is introducing novel therapeutics that will bring hope and relief to countless patients.

Spark Biomedical, Inc.

Spark Biomedical, Inc.’s mission is to eliminate opioid addiction worldwide by working to address the full opioid addiction lifecycle. Spark developed the Sparrow Ascent, the only FDA-cleared, drug-free, non-addictive, non-invasive, wearable treatment technology for the relief of opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Gulf Coast Consortia

The Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) brings together the strengths of its six member institutions to build interdisciplinary collaborative research teams and training programs in the biological sciences at their intersection with the computational, chemical, mathematical, and physical sciences. Comprised of six prominent and geographically proximate Gulf Coast institutions, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, University of Houston, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, the GCC's goal is to provide a cutting edge collaborative training environment and research infrastructure, one beyond the capability of any single institution. The GCC's mission is to train the next generation of bioscientists and to enable scientists to ask and answer questions that cross scientific disciplines to address the challenging biological issues of our time and, ultimately, to apply the resulting expertise and knowledge to the treatment and prevention of disease. 

Contact Us

Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics
Phone: (409) 772-3093
Email:  CAST@utmb.edu 
Mailing address:
301 University Boulevard
Galveston, TX 77555-0615


Last Updated: January 16, 2024 RMG