Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center - PROJECT SUMMARY OVERALL COMPONENT The Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center (DEARC) conducts critically needed, rigorous research recognizing that alcohol misuse and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) have deep roots in early development. Since its inception, the DEARC has operated as a highly successful, rapidly evolving, integrative research center located at Binghamton University. The central theme of the DEARC is that early developmental exposure to alcohol makes individuals susceptible to alcohol misuse and development of AUD across the lifespan, thereby compromising neurobehavioral function and the trajectory of healthy aging. The overarching purpose/goal of the DEARC is to promote rapid gains in our understanding of alcohol action(s) on the developing brain, so that effective treatments can be developed and optimized for the future. The Center provides the scientific leadership and a unified scientific framework to guide multiple interconnecting projects toward a set of common scientific objectives in ways that individual R-type grants could not. The DEARC will focus on two primary neurodevelopmental periods when ethanol exposure is most prevalent: during gestation through maternal consumption of alcohol; and during adolescent exposure, a key age for initiation of alcohol use characterized by binge and high-intensity drinking that are less common for adults. Importantly, the proposed renewal includes projects that will examine interactional influences of prenatal and adolescent alcohol exposure and expands into a broader lifespan perspective by including hypotheses targeting effects of early alcohol exposure on aging. Through the use of integrative research teams with broad interdisciplinary expertise, the DEARC is distinctively positioned to achieve its 3 clearly defined scientific objectives: (1) To identify neurobehavioral mechanisms contributing to heightened ethanol acceptance during adolescence, and how individual characteristics (sex, genotype) moderate these effects; (2) To delineate the neurobehavioral effects of early life (prenatal and adolescent) exposure to ethanol, and persistence of these effects across the lifespan; and (3) To establish a mechanistic framework for understanding ethanol-mediated affective dysfunction, cognitive decline, and pathological aging. This renewal application features 5 Main Research Components that use established rodent models of fetal and/or adolescent ethanol exposure to explore mechanisms contributing to the cycle of alcohol misuse and the adverse consequences of early developmental exposure to alcohol. Complementary pilot projects will be vetted and supported by a Pilot Project Core designed to enrich and accelerate achievement of DEARC scientific objectives, while also cultivating career paths for early career investigators and promoting human, conceptual, and technical diversity. All components are supported by an Administrative Core with a strong and well-established structure that will provide scientific leadership, identify opportunities for collaboration, and promote synergistic outcomes through strategic planning and guidance.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).