Sunday, May 5, 2024
5/5/2024
1. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Candidate: I am presently a scientist in the BRAVE Research Center (BRC), within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin (UW). Career Goals: I seek to identify neural mechanisms though which childhood adversity can perturb typical development of biobehavioral affective systems in ways that effect enduring psychiatric risk, as well as moderative ecological factors that may provide a foundation for evidence-based clinical efforts with vulnerable youth. Career Development: I request support for mentored training to build knowledge and skills in four areas pertinent to my career goals: (1) theory and analysis of functional brain networks; (2) caregivers and caregiving as ecological moderators of the linkage between victimization and psychopathology; (3) data-driven approaches to neurobehavioral analyses and (4) professional development as an independent investigator. Research Project: The proposed work utilizes longitudinal, multimodal assessment data from parent-child dyads participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (N=11,875), and its Social Development sub-study (N=2,500). The primary aim is the evaluation of cross- sectional and longitudinal changes in functional connectivity networks as mechanisms linking childhood adversity (victimization) and caregiving practices to impairments in emotion regulation, a biobehavioral domain with transdiagnostic relevance. First, I will extract robust functional network (static and dynamic) data from quality- controlled ABCD resting state fMRI scans and evaluate these metrics (and their change across time) as mediators in a structural equation model linking victimization and emotion regulation. Second, I will consider main effects of caregiving practices (e.g., positive parenting) on functional network development, as well as modulative impact on neurofunctional sequelae of victimization. Third, I will develop and evaluate a deep- learning model predicting impairment in emotion regulation from neural and behavioral inputs, including regional connectivity, caregiving practices, and exposure to victimization. These results will inform future applications proposing independent research projects considering neurofunctional mechanisms linking adversity to psychiatric risk in the context of granular assessment of caregiving practices, caregiver-child relationships, and dynamics within the broader family system. Such findings may serve as the basis for developing targeted clinical approaches translating ecological factors shown to moderate the biological and behavioral sequelae of victimization. Environment: Activities in this proposal will be conducted at UW (BRC, Department of Psychiatry) under the mentorship of esteemed scientists working in areas of affective and developmental neuroscience, neural and behavioral sequelae of adversity, quantitative modeling of developmental processes, and machine learning, led by Drs. Ryan Herringa, Seth Pollak, and Vikas Singh (respectively), each of whom possesses extensive experience mentoring early career investigators.
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