Funded Projects

Explore our currently funded projects. You may search with all three fields, then focus your results by applying any of the dropdown filters. After customizing your search, you may download results and even save your specific search for later.

Project # Project Title Sort descending Research Focus Area Research Program Administering IC Institution(s) Investigator(s) Location(s) Year Awarded
1R34DA050297-01
A feasibility study of novel technologies to minimize motion-induced biases in functional and structural MRI of young, opioid-affected cohorts Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA TISDALL, MATTHEW DYLAN (contact); MACKEY, ALLYSON PATRICIA Philadelphia, PA 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-036
Summary:

Structural and functional neuroimaging measures are prone to errors induced by subject motion. Many comorbid features of opioid exposure are likely to increase children’s in-scanner motion. In total, this raises substantial concern that existing neuroimaging methods are not sufficiently motion-robust to be used in studies of children ages 3–5. Researchers will address these concerns with a feasibility study, comparing the existing methods developed for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study with novel methods we will develop and optimize for young children. They will evaluate research methods in a sample of 100 children and test whether novel technologies improve the quality of the raw imaging data and reduce motion biases in the derived measures. Researchers will determine predictors of successful imaging to inform sampling strategies in future studies. The primary outcomes will be novel, validated structural and functional neuroimaging imaging methods for young children and feasibility data to inform the design of future studies addressing developmental questions, particularly those related to opioid exposure.

1R34DA050254-01
Biological and Environmental Contributions to Healthy Baby Development in Diverse Population Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF LOS ANGELES LEVITT, PAT Los Angeles, CA 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-036
Summary:

This project will support consortium hypothesis generation in Phase II in order to disentangle how complex environmental factors impact brain development and function — from fetal period through the first decade — to shape cognitive, social, and emotional development. The project will develop the strategies to recruit and retain a racially and ethnically diverse sample of pregnant women (and their fetuses), who are oversampled for adverse environmental risk factors and exposure to substances of abuse; develop the strategies for managing potential legal and ethical challenges to ensure that the mother–child dyads have access to legal, social, and psychological support services as needed; and determine the optimal study protocol for the planned, phase II study — balancing the need for high quality, longitudinal data collection with the need to minimize burden on the mother–child dyads.

1R34DA050299-01
Florida Development in Early Childhood: Adversity and Drug Exposure (FL-DECADE) Study Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GURKA, MATTHEW JAMES Gainesville, FL 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-036
Summary:

This study will determine the feasibility of a multifaceted approach to recruitment of normal and high-risk pregnant women and their children. Three inter-related tasks will support this comprehensive feasibility study. First, an interdisciplinary summit will occur early in the study focused on how best to mitigate risks and maximize benefits to children and families recruited in a future cohort. Second, the feasibility of a multi-faceted recruitment strategy will be assessed. Third, select pregnancy and birth assessments will be collected from recruited participants in this feasibility study while leveraging data across early childhood from existing resources, to inform Phase II study planning. This Phase I of the FL-DECADE study will provide valuable planning and feasibility data to be used for the national efforts to build a large, prospective cohort.

3U01DA055354-03S1
HBCD Study Biospecimens Administrative Supplement: Resource Generation for Delivery Specimens Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE POTTER, ALEXANDRA S (contact); GARAVAN, HUGH P Burlington, VT 2023
NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies. 

3U01DA055359-03S1
HBCD Study Biospecimens Administrative Supplement: Resource Generation for Delivery Specimens Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR BAKHIREVA, LUDMILA NICOLE (contact); LEEMAN, LAWRENCE M Albuquerque, NM 2023
NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies

3U01DA055365-03S1
HBCD Study Biospecimens Administrative Supplement: Resource Generation for Delivery Specimens Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA HUANG, HAO (contact); DEMAURO, SARA BONAMO Philadelphia, PA 2023
NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies.

1U24DA055330-01
Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Data Coordinating Center Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SMYSER, CHRISTOPHER DANIEL (contact); DALE, ANDERS M; FAIR, DAMIEN A St Louis, MO 2021
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Data Coordinating Center (U24)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-023
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) Data Coordinating Center (HDCC) will provide data management and oversight to all HBCD-NC sites to ensure the consortium’s primary objective of establishing a normative template of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life is met. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. The HDCC will coordinate data collection, data quality, data harmonization, data sharing, and data analysis efforts that are central to the consortium’s ability to implement a common research protocol. The HDCC will assemble all data across the consortium sites and distribute a comprehensive and well curated research dataset to the scientific community at large. The HDCC is tightly integrated with the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Administrative Core (HCAC) and includes a multi-institution investigative team at the University of Minnesota, University of California, San Diego, and Washington University at St Louis.

3U24DA055330-03S1  
HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Data Coordinating Center Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SMYSER, CHRISTOPHER DANIEL (contact); FAIR, DAMIEN A Saint Louis, MO 2023
NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies.

1U01DA055322-01
HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study at UAB and UA Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM PERALTA-CARCELEN, ADA MYRIAM (contact); NEWMAN, SHARLENE D; NEWSOM, CASSANDRA R; YERBY, LEA GEORGETTE Birmingham, AL 2021
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-021
Summary:

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama will enroll pregnant women during their second trimester and follow their infants through a comprehensive longitudinal study. This program will follow 300 mother-infant pairs to understand how early life exposure to drugs and other environmental factors affects developmental trajectories. In addition, this program will determine how genetic and biological factors interact with environmental factors to influence neurodevelopment. This study will take place at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recruiting participants from mainly rural populations with low access to obstetric/gynecological (OB/GYN) care and high rates of substance use.

1R34DA050292-01
HEALthy ORCHARD: Developing plans for a Baltimore site of the HEALthy BCD study Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY FALLIN, M DANIELE Baltimore, MD 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-036
Summary:

Researchers will expand a recently initiated pregnancy cohort at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) called ORCHARD (ORigins of Child Health And Resilience in Development) to create a Baltimore HEALthy BCD site, named HEALthy ORCHARD. The research team will convene investigators at JHU and the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI), and community partners across nine work groups to: (1) develop protocols for recruitment and retention of pregnant mothers and children with enriched sampling of pregnant women who are using substances; (2) establish community, medical, and government partnerships necessary to implement recruitment, retention, data collection and community benefits; (3) characterize the critical ethical and legal challenges raised during study design, in pilot studies, and by prospective participants, and propose solutions where possible and additional research where necessary; (4) develop protocols for longitudinal data collection across pregnancy and childhood; and (5) contribute to multi-site protocol development and nationally relevant principles regarding ethical and legal issues.

1R34DA050255-01
Planning Phase for the Healthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) in Los Angeles County Area Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER GAO, WEI (contact); GREGORY, KIMBERLY D; JOHNSON, SCOTT P Los Angeles, CA 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-036
Summary:

Prevalence rates of opioids misuse in Los Angeles County (LA) are particularly high among individuals of childbearing age and in already-vulnerable populations including African American females. These data highlight a pressing need for a systematic study of the effects of prenatal drug exposures (PDE) in the unique sociodemographic LA County area. In this project, researchers aim to establish the feasibility for the large-scale Phase II HEALthy BCD study in the Los Angeles area with three specific aims: (1) build a broad interdisciplinary team of investigators capable of a multi-faceted study of brain and behavioral development in both typically developing and at-risk infants/children; (2) establish a set of highly executable recruitment and retention strategies for both drug-free and drug-exposed infants/children; and (3)establish comprehensive study protocols that will help address the three key research objectives of the Phase II study.

1R34DA050286-01
The Cumulative Risk of Substance Exposure and Early Life Adversity on Child Health Development and Outcomes Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME BLAIR, JAMES Boys Town, NE 2019
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HEALthy BCD) (Collaborative R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-029
Summary:

Despite increased efforts to understand the neurodevelopmental sequelae of in utero opioid and other substance exposure on long-term behavioral, cognitive, and societal outcomes, important questions remain, specifically, 1) How is brain growth disrupted by fetal substance and related pre- and post-natal exposures? and 2) How are these disrupted growth patterns causally related to later cognitive and behavioral outcomes? This project seeks to formulate an approach to addressing these key questions and decipher the individual and cumulative effect of these intertwined pre- and post-natal exposures on child neurodevelopment. First, researchers will address the legal, ethical, and mother-child care and support concerns implicit in this study. Next, they will integrate across our areas of neuroimaging expertise to develop, implement, and harmonize a multi-modal MRI and EEG protocol to assess maturing brain structure, function, and connectivity. Finally, researchers will develop and test advanced statistical approaches to model and analyze this multidimensional and longitudinal data.

1U24DA055325-01
The Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Administrative Core Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO CHAMBERS, CHRISTINA (contact); NELSON, CHARLES ALEXANDER La Jolla, CA 2021
NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Consortium Administrative Core (U24 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-022
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) Administrative Core (HCAC) will coordinate efforts across all sites in the HBCD-NC consortium to ensure that the consortium meets its primary objective to establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. The HCAC will oversee study design and monitor the progress of each site’s ability to carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. This administrative core is located at the University of California, San Diego.

5U24DA055325-02
The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Administrative Core Enhanced Outcomes for Infants and Children Exposed to Opioids HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) NIDA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO CHAMBERS, CHRISTINA (contact); NELSON, CHARLES ALEXANDER La Jolla, CA 2023
NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies.