National Institutes of Health renews $290 million in funding for largest adolescent brain study

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has renewed its funding for $290 million over the next seven years for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD0 study, which is the largest long-term brain development study that has been conducted on child health in the nation. 

According to NIH, ABCD originated in 2015 and is currently in the process of following 11,750 children, including 2,100 twins or triplets. The study started following the children at ages 9 or 10 and will follow them for a decade.

With the new awards, the Coordinating Center and the Data Analysis Informatics & Resource Center at the University of California in San Diego will receive the funding needed to operate. 

National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of NIH, Director Nora Volkow, M.D., said that this next phase of study will dive into intriguing topics, according to NIH.

“The next phase of the ABCD study will help us understand the effects of substance use, as well as environmental, social, genetic and other biological factors on the developing adolescent brain,” Volkow told NIH. “Since the participants are now in their vulnerable middle school years or are beginning high school, this is a critical time to learn more about what enhances or disrupts a young person’s life trajectory.”

This stage of the study will ask participants to participate in interviews one to two times a year in conjunction with health assessments and neuroimaging. Scientists are hoping to see what the effect of drugs, screen time and sleep patterns on participants’ developing minds. 

The comprehensive data set of participants is potentially going to permit researchers to determine a great deal about health impacts of such activities, according to NIH. 

As of now, 32 research papers have been published from 11 investigators who are independent of the ABCD study. Through the conducting and publication of these studies, there have come to be a more clear comprehension of activities and experience in adolescence and the physiology of the brain.