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Optimizing Targeted Interventions for Aphasia

Award Number: R01DC018282
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/01/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2026

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Optimizing Targeted Interventions for Aphasia - Language treatments for chronic aphasia are not restorative, and the psychosocial and economic impacts of aphasia are devastating. Knowledge of modifiable brain targets has not been harnessed to catalyze meaningful treatment outcomes. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) allows systematic investigations of the effects of brain target engagement. tDCS investigations aim to restore a left hemisphere bias for language processing. tDCS has strong clinical translational potential, but the diffuse current flow it delivers to the stroke brain and uncontrolled cortical dosage limits inferential precision. Although tDCS could be used to shape hemispheric contributions to language and investigate target engagement, methodological approaches so far have not employed it for that purpose, preventing vertical progress in aphasia treatment development. Both aphasia and tDCS research are lacking data on meaningful language outcomes and treatment-induced brain changes. There is a critical need for rigorous investigations of treatments capable of coaxing spared brain areas into adaptive participation for functional improvements. Failure to meet this need means that millions of people with aphasia will have little hope for easing of disability burden. The long-term goal is to optimize aphasia recovery with clinically translatable brain-based approaches. The overall objective of this project is to determine how to induce functional language improvement and adaptive changes to spared eloquent language cortex. The central hypothesis is that functional language outcomes for people with chronic aphasia will be enhanced when treatment focuses on normalizing language processing bias to the left hemisphere. The rationale is that identifying behavioral and adjunctive treatments that engage brain targets will allow optimization of treatment parameters and facilitate the development of novel and personalized approaches to move beyond the status quo and towards precision neurorehabilitation. Guided by strong preliminary data, this hypothesis will be tested by pursuing two specific aims: 1) Demonstrate the enhancing effect of targeted right hemisphere modulation; and 2) Measure normalization of brain activity following treatment. Under the first aim, language treatment will be paired with active or sham HD-tDCS to inhibit right inferior frontal right gyrus (pars triangularis), after which gains in narrative and naming will be measured and the two groups compared. Under the second aim, changes in EEG measures of brain function will be characterized and related to narrative and naming outcomes. This contribution will be significant because it is expected to have broad application to clinical populations who would benefit from treatment-induced adaptive brain reorganization. Our major innovation for this project is the pairing of a proven behavioral treatment that will recruit language networks with targeted “high-definition” tDCS (HD-tDCS) to focus inhibition and control cortical dosage to the frontal right hemisphere. These contributions will be important for the more than 2.4 million adults in the United States living with aphasia.


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: 2025 ( Subtotal = $514,752 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1 UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	5/6/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$514,752
														Subtotal = $514,752

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $549,125 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	4/25/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$549,125
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	3/27/2024	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
														Subtotal = $549,125

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $926,332 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	003	2	6/1/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	002	3	5/12/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$561,760
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	3/14/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$364,572
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	5/2/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
														Subtotal = $926,332

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $555,232 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	4/28/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$555,232
														Subtotal = $555,232

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $599,566 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	4/30/2021	NEW	$599,566
														Subtotal = $599,566

Grand Total All Awards = $3,145,007

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Optimizing Targeted Interventions for Aphasia

Award Number: R01DC018282

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/01/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2026

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