Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Establishing Early Brain Signatures associated with Maternal Immune Activation Exposure

Award Number: R01MH126133
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 02/11/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2027

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Establishing Early Brain Signatures associated with Maternal Immune Activation Exposure - While 1 in 5 children are at risk for psychiatric disorders, only 1 in 20 young children receive mental health care. There remains a gap in knowledge of early causes and precursor symptoms of psychiatric disorders; therefore, many children are not identified as at risk until school age, when a diagnosis can reliably be made. Prenatal maternal immune activation (MIA) from infection, stress, medical conditions, and environmental pathogens has been associated with offspring risk of psychiatric disorders. There remains a gap in our knowledge of the early brain and behavioral antecedents of this risk. Preclinical studies suggest that MIA may lead to biochemical changes in the developing brain that disrupt brain-behavior functional associations. We propose to examine whether prenatal exposure to MIA leads to metabolic and functional modifications in the developing brain and analogous behavioral phenotypes in human offspring. Our prior work demonstrated that MIA (interleukin-6; IL- 6) was associated with functional connectivity of the salience network (SAN), a network integral for emotion regulation, in neonates. Extending this, we will conduct longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in fetuses, neonates, and infants to determine if the alterations in the SAN originate in the fetal period and map developmental trajectories of the SAN in early life. In tandem, we plan to collect longitudinal magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which provides mechanistic information about the metabolic and cellular properties that may correspond to disruptions of SAN functional activity. Our pilot data suggests that MIA is associated with myo-inositol, an indicator of astroglial cell activation, in the newborn brain. Our central hypothesis is that MIA, evidenced by levels of inflammation (primary: IL-6) and infection (primary: Total immunoglobulin G), is associated with brain connectivity and metabolites in the SAN and behavioral reactivity from the fetal to infancy periods. One hundred and seventy-five pregnant women-fetal dyads will participate in this study from 12 weeks gestation to 9 months postnatal life. The pregnant women will have blood draws and psychological assessments at three timepoints and fetal physiologic assessment and MRI at 33-36 weeks. The infants will participate in MRI (2-6 weeks and 4 months postnatally) and observer-based behavioral paradigms at 4- and 9-months of age. Our proposal uses a collaborative science approach, bringing together perinatal-developmental neuroscience (Marisa Spann), psychoneuroimmunology (Staci Bilbo), maternal-fetal medicine (Mirella Mourad), and quantitatively trained biomedical engineers in the areas of developmental functional imaging and data science (Dustin Scheinost) and MRS (Christoph Juchem). This proposal is significant because it will provide mechanistic and system levels information about the rapidly developing brain that map on to an important behavioral system, emotion regulation. This research has the potential to reveal trajectories of behavioral health in early childhood and present approaches to detect early markers of psychiatric risk.


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 = $1,078,975 )
2026	2026	THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	1/30/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$1,078,975
														Subtotal = $1,078,975

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $917,129 )
2025	2025	THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	2/19/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$917,129
														Subtotal = $917,129

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	2	4/5/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $1,078,975 )
2023	2023	TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	2	12/16/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$971,078
2023	2023	TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	002	2	2/27/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$107,897
2023	2022	TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	11/1/2022	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $1,078,975

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $1,094,475 )
2022	2022	TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	2/11/2022	NEW	$986,578
2022	2022	TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE	630 W 168TH ST FL 4	NEW YORK	NY	10032	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	1	6/27/2022	NEW	$107,897
														Subtotal = $1,094,475

Grand Total All Awards = $4,169,554

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Establishing Early Brain Signatures associated with Maternal Immune Activation Exposure

Award Number: R01MH126133

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 02/11/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2027

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer