Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Impact of HIV and Cannabis Use on Executive Brain Function and Inflammation

Award Number: F31DA063403
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/11/2025
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/10/2028

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Impact of HIV and Cannabis Use on Executive Brain Function and Inflammation - Project Summary/Abstract While health outcomes for people with HIV (PWH) have greatly improved due to antiretroviral therapies, executive dysfunction continues to impact up to an estimated 50% of PWH, highlighting a pressing need for continued research in this area. Cannabis use is prevalent in this population largely for relief from peripheral HIV- related symptoms such as nausea. Cannabis may also exert neuroprotective effects for PWH due to its modulation of inflammation via the endocannabinoid system. Since systemic inflammation of the central nervous system has been associated with cognitive declines among PWH, it is important to explore this potential pathway of decreasing neuroinflammation. Recent work has attributed the use of cannabis among PWH with normalized oscillatory brain activity in frontoparietal brain regions, which are necessary for executive functioning. However, the literature is limited regarding the intersection of cannabis, neuroinflammation, and executive functioning as indexed by both neuropsychological assessment and brain activation. Given the prevalence of cognitive impairment among PWH, it is critical to characterize how the commonly used substance cannabis modulates neuroinflammation and executive function abilities. The proposed fellowship seeks to partially address this gap by utilizing the excellent spatial and temporal precision of magnetoencephalography (MEG) in conjunction with neuropsychological assessment and plasma inflammation levels. Briefly, adult PWH using and not using cannabis will be recruited in addition to demographically matched samples of using and non-using healthy controls (four total groups). Participants will undergo a blood draw for inflammatory biomarker testing, two NIH Cognitive Battery assessments for executive function, and complete two executive function tasks during MEG. The inflammatory biomarkers will be combined into one neuroinflammation index score via factor analysis and accuracy outcomes of the battery assessments will be standardized for comparison. The MEG data will be transformed into the time-frequency domain and imaged using a beamformer. The resulting dynamic functional maps will be utilized to examine spectrally specific brain responses that are supportive of executive functioning, i.e. regions of the frontoparietal network. Aim 1 will compare neuroinflammatory index scores between groups to examine the effect of cannabis on HIV-related inflammation. Aim 2 will determine the impact of cannabis use on executive function assessment performance and frontoparietal activation. To accomplish this, we will take advantage of the latest MEG and source reconstruction techniques, neural oscillatory analysis methods, and cognitive assessments to examine the influence of serostatus and cannabis usage on the neurophysiological bases of executive function. Aim 3 will explore the differential relationships between frontoparietal oscillatory activity supporting executive function and neuroinflammation among cannabis using and non-using PWH. In sum, this research will help elucidate the potential of cannabis to mitigate neuroinflammation and executive dysfunction among PWH.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $50,114 )
2026	2026	FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME	14100 CRAWFORD ST	BOYS TOWN	NE	68010	DOUGLAS	USA	Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs	000	2	4/2/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$50,114
														Subtotal = $50,114

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $49,538 )
2025	2025	FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME	14100 CRAWFORD ST	BOYS TOWN	NE	68010	DOUGLAS	USA	Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs	002	1	9/2/2025	NEW	$564
2025	2025	FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME	14100 CRAWFORD ST	BOYS TOWN	NE	68010	DOUGLAS	USA	Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs	001	1	4/11/2025	NEW	$0
2025	2025	FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME	14100 CRAWFORD ST	BOYS TOWN	NE	68010	DOUGLAS	USA	Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs	000	1	4/11/2025	NEW	$48,974
														Subtotal = $49,538

Grand Total All Awards = $99,652

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Impact of HIV and Cannabis Use on Executive Brain Function and Inflammation

Award Number: F31DA063403

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/11/2025

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/10/2028

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer