Developmental Brain Disorders – 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

Review topics in DBD are closely aligned with those reviewed by Special Emphasis Panel for Clinical and Therapeutic Research for Developmental Brain Disorders – NPC (81) Applications focusing on non-clinical studies are reviewed by DBD, whereas applications involving clinical, translational, or therapeutic research are reviewed by NPC-81.

There are shared interests in neurodevelopment with Nervous System Development and Repair (NSDR). Applications emphasizing preclinical research on neurodevelopmental disorders are reviewed by DBD. Applications focused on mechanisms regulating normal neurodevelopment are reviewed by NSDR.

There is overlap in developmental brain disorders with Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities (CPDD). Applications that emphasize brain development abnormalities in structures, circuitry, and functions resulting from in-utero and perinatal factors such as genetic, cellular, inflammatory, injuries, and environmental insults are reviewed in DBD. Applications focused on interventions and rehabilitation for developmental disabilities related to behavioral and mental health disorders in children and adolescents are reviewed in CPDD. Applications that primarily investigate the behavioral and phenotypic sequelae of prenatal insults in children and adolescents are also reviewed in CPDD.

There are shared interests in seizures/epilepsy and traumatic neural injuries with Circuit Disorders, Plasticity, and Neuronal Injury (CPN). Applications that study brain injuries and circuit disorder in adolescent and adult animals are reviewed in CPN. Applications addressing injuries during pre-, peri-, and postnatal periods that result in brain developmental abnormalities including epilepsy in animals are reviewed by DBD. DBD also reviews pediatric onset epilepsy during early childhood in animal studies. 

There are shared interests in seizures/epilepsy, traumatic neural injuries, hypoxic/ischemic brain injuries with Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disorder (BIND). Applications that emphasize hypoxic/ischemic brain injuries and epilepsy in adolescent/adult human studies are reviewed in BIND. Applications addressing injuries during pre-, peri-, and postnatal periods that result in brain developmental abnormalities including epilepsy in animals are reviewed by DBD. DBD also reviews pediatric onset epilepsy during early childhood in animal studies. 

There are shared interests in infections of the central nervous system (CNS) with Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors (CNBT). Applications that emphasize immunological impacts of infections in the adolescent/adult brain are reviewed in CNBT. Applications that address neurodevelopmental disorders caused by in utero and perinatal infections in animal studies are reviewed in DBD. 

There are shared interests in childhood mental disorders/developmental psychiatric disabilities (schizophrenia) with Pathophysiological Basis of Mental Disorders (PBMD),  and Neural Basis of Psychopathology, Addictions and Sleep Disorders (NPAS). Applications in animal studies in these areas are reviewed in PBMD. Applications that focus on human studies in these areas are reviewed in NPAS. Applications that emphasize developmental psychiatric disabilities in animals are reviewed in DBD. 

There are shared interests in studying neurodevelopmental disorders with  Biology of Complex Brain Disorders (BCBD). Applications that emphasize candidate gene pathways associated with neurodevelopmental brain disorders with uncertain causative cellular and molecular mechanisms can be reviewed in BCBD. Applications that investigate genetic, metabolic, immune, microbiome, infectious, environmental and behavioral factors for neurodevelopmental disorders are reviewed in DBD.