Project Summary/Abstract
In this K23 career development award, Dr. Rujuta Wilson will develop training in quantitative analysis of motor
development to aid in early identification of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Dr. Wilson’s longer-term
goal is to be a leading clinician-scientist in motor development, utilizing novel quantitative methods and
analyses to identify mechanisms, biomarkers, and treatments of motor impairments across diverse
developmental populations affected by these impairments. Through the support of this K23 and the enriched
transdisciplinary training environment and resources at UCLA, Dr. Wilson aims to accomplish the following
training goals: (1) develop expertise in theoretical models and assessment of infant motor and developmental
trajectories, (2) acquire knowledge of optimal statistical methods and skills in longitudinal modeling, signal
processing, and machine learning techniques to analyze complex quantitative motor data and develop
prediction models, (3) develop proficiency in advanced methods of clinical research design and
implementation, and (4) translate the K23 training and findings into an R01 utilizing motor risk markers to aid in
clinical stratification and monitor developmental outcomes of a targeted motor intervention. To achieve these
goals, Dr. Wilson has assembled an exemplary mentorship team, including her primary mentor, Dr. James
McCracken, a child psychiatrist with decades of research dedicated to studying development in children and in
design and conduct of clinical trials in NDDs; co-mentor, Dr. Grace Baranek, a leader in the study of sensory-
motor and behavioral risk markers of NDDs in the first year of life; co-mentor, Dr. David Elashoff, a leader of
biostatistics with extensive knowledge of high dimensional data sets and sensor monitoring data; collaborators
and contributors, Drs. William Kaiser, Beth Smith, Shafali Jeste, and Susan Bookheimer, experts in advanced
analytic techniques of signal processing and machine learning, wearable sensors, high risk infant studies, and
neuroimaging methods in high risk infants, respectively. Motor impairments occur across an array of NDDs and
emerge early in disease course, but early identification remains an ongoing challenge due to lack of
quantitative measures that can objectively identify these early motor impairments. The overarching goal of the
proposed longitudinal study is to (1) utilize a validated wearable sensor to derive quantitative measurements of
motor function and identify motor impairments in infants at high risk for NDDs (e.g., infants with an older sibling
with Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD]) as early as 3 months of age, and (2) examine the relationship of these
motor impairments to symptoms of ASD and to delays in social communication, language, and cognition. This
proposal will facilitate the development of novel transdiagnostic motor phenotyping tools that can be utilized to
inform clinical screening, clinical risk stratification, and intervention studies across a range of neurologic
disorders. These aims directly address NICHD research priorities; in particular, “research establishing the
validity of biomarkers and outcome measures for intellectual and developmental disability symptoms.”