Developmental Brain Disorders Study Section – DBD

Topics

• Brain development in utero: Transplacental exposure to maternal drugs, environmental stress and exposures, and metabolic imbalances.
• Developmental abnormalities of brain structure, function, and connectivity, including but not limited to congenital CSF abnormalities.
• Factors impacting brain development in infancy, childhood, and adolescence, including genetic, environmental, immune, infection, microbiome, and metabolic impacts.
• · Developmental consequences of inborn errors of metabolism, storage diseases, and neurotransmitter/receptor function.
• Identification and characterization of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, including genetic bases of metabolic and morphological abnormalities, and development of animal models.
• Development of vertebrate animal models specifically relevant to disorders of the developing brain.
• Developmental aspects of perinatal insults, pediatric brain injury and congenital infections involving the CNS (excluding HIV), low-birth-weight infants, viral infections, hypoxia/ischemia, or pediatric seizures/epilepsy.
• Therapeutic strategies for interventions and brain plasticity: Medical, surgical, pharmacological, neuromodulatory, and behavioral interventions; plasticity and rehabilitation in the developing brain; clinical studies relevant to disorders of the developing brain.
• Developmental epilepsy and its consequences and co-morbidity.
• Research using computational approaches, consortium generated datasets, or data integration across studies to create large scale datasets to address DBD relevant topics.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests in neurodevelopment with Neurogenesis and Cell Fate Study Section (NCF). Applications that emphasize disease and neurodevelopment disorders are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize the mechanisms involved in normal brain development including the use of mouse, as well those involving the use of Drosophila, C.elegans, and other nonmammalian models are reviewed in NCF.

There are shared interests in seizures/epilepsy with Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disorder (BIND) and Clinical Neuroplasticity and Neurotransmitters (CNNT). Applications that emphasize developmental aspects such as neonate/pediatric are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize adolescent/adult human studies are reviewed in BIND. Applications that emphasize animal and cellular experimental mechanistic studies are reviewed in CNNT.

There are shared interests in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hypoxia/ischemia with Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disorders (BIND), and Brain Injury and Neurovascular Pathologies (BINP). Applications that emphasize pediatric TBI/hypoxia/ischemia are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize juvenile to adult human studies are reviewed in BIND. Applications that emphasize animal experimental studies are reviewed in BINP.

There are shared interests in human subject-based studies with Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities (CPDD). Applications that emphasize understanding brain development in atypical clinical populations or those applications involving animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders (even if there is a human subjects component) are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize behavioral interventions and outcomes and treatment and rehabilitation methods for children and adolescents in the developing human brain are reviewed in CPDD.

There are shared interests in viral infections in the CNS and other factors affecting neurodevelopment with Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors (CNBT). Applications that emphasize CNS neurodevelopmental disorders perinatal insults caused by viral infections (e.g., Zika) and how the immune system and gut microbiome-brain axis affect neurodevelopment and disorders are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize the viral brain infections (e.g., Zika) and on the immunological mechanisms and interactions of the gut-brain axis, including pathophysiological roles of the microbiome in the brain are reviewed in CNBT.

There are shared interests in childhood mental disorders/developmental psychiatric disabilities [schizophrenia] with Pathophysiological Basis of Mental Disorders and Addictions (PMDA), and Neural Basis of Psychopathology, Addictions and Sleep Disorders (NPAS). Human subject applications that emphasize developmental psychiatric disabilities are reviewed in DBD. Applications that emphasize mechanistic molecular and animal studies in this area are reviewed in PMDA. Applications that focus on human studies in these areas are reviewed in NPAS.