Understanding Healthy Brain and Child Development
21/24 Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
This project aims to understand how early life experiences and genes influence brain and child development in thousands of mothers and their babies across the United States.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Wisconsin-Madison NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Madison, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11141592 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Our brains and how we grow are shaped by a mix of our genes and the world around us. This project looks closely at how experiences very early in life, even before birth, can affect a child's development, including things like exposure to certain substances, stress, or a parent's health. We are following 7,200 mothers and their babies across the country for 10 years to create a detailed picture of healthy development. We use advanced brain imaging like MRI and EEG, along with behavioral tests and biological samples, to understand these important connections.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Mothers and their infants, from pregnancy through the first 10 years of life, who are enrolled at one of the 27 participating sites across the US, are ideal candidates for this project.
Not a fit: Patients not enrolled in this specific project or those outside the age range of 0-10 years old would not directly benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help us better understand how to support healthy brain and child development and identify ways to prevent problems caused by early life challenges.
How similar studies have performed: While the overall approach of studying gene-environment interactions is established, this project is a novel, large-scale effort to create a comprehensive, harmonized dataset of neurodevelopmental trajectories across the US.
Where this research is happening
Madison, United States
- University of Wisconsin-Madison — Madison, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Dean Iii, Douglas Carl — University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Study coordinator: Dean Iii, Douglas Carl
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 below.