How thalamus activity shapes the teenage brain's thinking center
Official title: Thalamo-prefrontal circuit maturation during adolescence
Funded at New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC · NIH-11458752 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests whether activity from a deep brain area (the thalamus) during adolescence helps the front part of the brain mature in teens and young adults who may be at risk for schizophrenia.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | January 27, 2023 |
| Project end | November 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $72,557 |
| NIH project number | 3R01MH128293-04S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11458752 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
The people most relevant to this line of work are adolescents or young adults with a family history of psychosis or early warning signs of schizophrenia who might be candidates for future prevention efforts.
✕Less likely to help
People without concerns about psychosis or older adults with long-established schizophrenia are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this basic animal-focused research right now.
What this research studies
From a patient's perspective, researchers are using mouse experiments to mimic how the thalamus talks to the front of the brain during the teen years and whether interrupting that signal changes brain wiring. They compare what happens when thalamic activity is reduced during a mouse equivalent of adolescence versus the same change in adulthood. The team examines physical connections, how strongly brain cells excite each other, and whether those changes lead to long-lasting problems with attention and flexible thinking. The goal is to link a specific early-life brain activity pattern to later cognitive changes relevant to schizophrenia risk.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new ways to prevent or treat early thinking and attention problems in teens at risk for schizophrenia by targeting thalamus-driven developmental processes.
How similar studies have gone: Human imaging and prior animal studies support a link between thalamus–prefrontal connectivity and thinking problems, but using adolescent-specific thalamic inhibition to produce long-term cognitive changes is a newer and more experimental approach.
Where this research is happening
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New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kellendonk, Christoph — New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC
- Study coordinator: Kellendonk, Christoph
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.