This FOA encourages projects, using in vivo measures in awake, behaving rodents and non-human primates, that propose to: 1) examine the pre- and post-natal developmental trajectories of neural circuits associated with formation, maintenance and plasticity of cognitive, emotional and social behaviors; 2) implement new approaches, longitudinal designs, and/or causal manipulations to study changes in these networks across developmental trajectories; AND/OR 3) investigate, in animals, processes that have been robustly associated with dysfunctions in neurodevelopmental trajectories and/or mental-health relevant behaviors in humans. Compliance with the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Policy), including completion of the Vertebrate Animals Section according to the criteria described below, is an absolute requirement. All institutions are also required to comply, as applicable, with the Animal Welfare Act, and other Federal statutes and regulations relating to animals.
Application of computational modeling approaches, to better delineate critical neurodevelopmental parameters and/or to predict the dynamics of behavior changes with development, are encouraged. The use and application of innovative newly-developed tools to study how neurodevelopmental changes in neural circuit activity give rise to a specific behavior is encouraged . Tool development, per se, would not meet the goals and objectives of this FOA.
Applications should include all three of the following experimental approaches:
1) Experiments in rodents or non-human primates. Investigators should justify their choice of species within the framework of mental-health relevant behaviors and demonstrate that the experimental paradigms used are appropriate to the species studied. Manipulations and measures should reflect underlying questions about the neural circuit under study.
2) Focus on a neurodevelopmental trajectory, by inclusion of at least three time-points. Time points can range from pre-natal development to early adulthood. In addition to considering the relevance of chosen time-points to mental health, investigators should justify their choice of time-points in relation to known or hypothesized developmental events or transitions in the species under study.
3) Concurrent behavioral and brain measures. In vivo neural measures of circuits function in awake-behaving animals are required. Mechanistic studies should include a careful theoretical and experimental decomposition of behavior and state-of the art neuroscience techniques designed to elucidate neural algorithms that generate behavior.
Awards:
The combined budget for direct costs for the two year project period may not exceed $275,000. No more than $200,000 may be requested in any single year.
Letter of Intent:
Not required
Full Proposal Submission Deadline:
February 16, 2022, June 16, 2022, October 16, 2022
Contacts:
Andrew Breeden, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Telephone: 301-451-3185, Email: neurodevelopmentpar@mail.nih.gov
