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Neurometabolic trajectory of the developing brain

Award Number: K99HD118185
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/15/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2028

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Neurometabolic trajectory of the developing brain - Project Summary Phenomenal neurochemical changes occur during human brain maturation. These changes are both heterogenous across different brain regions and heterochronous for different metabolites during this period of growth. Investigating the neurometabolic trajectory of the healthy developing brain will help establish biomarkers for dysfunctional development and brain injuries. With high prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors among women of reproductive age in the U.S., understanding the effects of these risk factors on infant brain oxidative stress and neurotransmission becomes critical. Key neurometabolites of interest include neurotransmitters and neuromodulators such as glutamate (Glu), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), aspartate (Asp), and N- acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG), antioxidants such as glutathione (GSH) and ascorbate (Asc), indicators of mitochondrial dysfunction lactate (Lac), and neuronal integrity N-acetylaspartate (NAA). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is the only non-invasive tool that can measure these metabolite levels in vivo. MRS techniques incorporating imaging (MRSI) extend spatial coverage and allow the spatial distribution of brain metabolites to be mapped. However, a lack of motion-immune advanced MRS/MRSI techniques for infants and young children to map multiple metabolites simultaneously has resulted in limited knowledge of neurochemistry of early brain development. This knowledge gap directly results from the technology gap, which must be prioritized to determine the neurometabolic trajectory of the developing brain. This project will help address these gaps using two approaches: i) determining the neurometabolic trajectory of the developing brain localized to a single voxel in the bilateral thalamus from 0-15 months of age and determining the effect of maternal cardiometabolic risk factors to the developing neurometabolic trajectory, both of these using the publicly available HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study MRS data; and ii) by developing an advanced multi-metabolite edited MRSI technique with robust motion correction for the pediatric population that will enable mapping of the spatial distribution of neurometabolites across the developing brain. This Pathway to Independence Award will be supported by excellent career development resources at Johns Hopkins University, and training from a mentoring team of world experts in the field of pediatric and neurodevelopmental research, advanced edited MRS, and motion-correction methods for MRI. This project will generate novel motion-robust tools to study metabolic processes in pediatric populations and also leverage the HBCD study data to advance the understanding of pediatric neurobiology, potentially indicating biomarkers for deviations from healthy brain development.


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 = $133,432 )
2026	2026	THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	3400 N CHARLES ST	BALTIMORE	MD	21218	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	4/9/2026	NEW	$133,432
														Subtotal = $133,432

Grand Total All Awards = $133,432

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Neurometabolic trajectory of the developing brain

Award Number: K99HD118185

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/15/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2028

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