Projects and Collaborators
PIMACS
( Perinatal Infant Mother Attachment Cortisol Study ) Project
The purpose
of this study is to better understand the role of maternal risk for depression
on infant stress hormone levels early in life, and the possibility of long-term
effects if the hormone levels are different from that which is seen in infants
of mothers who are not at risk for depression. Our ultimate goal is to identify
pregnant women at risk for depression and determine if these chemicals in
the body may help target their high-risk infants for early prevention strategies
that would prevent or lessen the risk of development of psychiatric illness.
Our study
team includes many Co-Investigators
from several disciplines including obstetricians, pediatricians, child psychologists,
adult psychologists and psychiatrists, social workers and nurses. This study
is supported by NIMH grant Depression
Risk, Infant-Mother Attachment and Cortisol
For this project, please go to PIMACS
website for more details.
Perinatal
Experience and Children's Mental Health
Many aspects
of affective illness, including depression, involve a disturbance in the limbic-cortical
emotional circuitry. A persistent or inappropriate activation of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
(LHPA) axis is observed in many of these conditions. The comprehensive goal
of this Level I Network application, Prenatal and Perinatal Experience and
Children's Mental Health, is to strengthen the conceptual and empirical linkages
between: 1) rodent, sheep and non-human primate research on adverse early
experiences and development of the LHPA axis, and 2) human research on the
emotional and cognitive sequelae of early adversity experiences during the
fetal, perinatal and/or early neonatal period. The proposed network will ultimately
foster hypothesis driven research initiatives, and develop new strategies
that will effectively test the impact of adverse fetal and neonatal experience
on LHPA development, bridging clinical obstetrics and neonatology, epidemiology,
developmental neuroanatomy and neurosciences with mental illness in children
and adolescents. Twelve network members, spanning expertise from molecular
to behavioral and epidemiological levels in animal models and human fetal
and infant populations have been assembled, along with two consultants who
will join the group for specified topics and meetings. Network members are:
Charles
R. Neal and Delia
M. Vazquez (Co-PI's), K.
Sunny Anand, Ronald
G. Barr, Alice
S. Carter, Christopher
Coe, Michael
K. Georgieff, Vivette
Glover, Kate
Keenan, Michael
S. Kramer, Peter
Nathanielsz and Pathik
Wadhwa. The consultants are Megan
Gunnar and Seymour
Levine.
Molecular
Elements, Neurocircuits and Mental Illness
The overall
purpose of this Program Project application is to understand the molecular
and neuronal mechanisms that lead to individual differences in emotional responsiveness,
and to apply this understanding to uncovering the biological basis of vulnerability
to major depressive disorder (MDD). The projects within this Program Project
Grant focus on a particular set of known candidate systems-the stress system
and the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems that closely interact with
it. We also search for novel candidate genes using microarray technology and
to begin to explore their relationship to differences in emotional reactivity.
Project 3 which is directed by Delia
Vazquez uses a developmental approach to uncover the unfolding
of the behavioral differences in emotional responsiveness and their neuronal
correlates in the rat. Projects 1, 2, 4 and 5 are highly complementary and
synergistic (see Watson's
web site). It is hoped that their completion will shed light
on the molecular, neurobiological and environmental factors that lead to increased
vulnerability to depression and affect the individual's response to the treatment
of this illness.
Early
Experience, Stress Neurobiology and Prevention Science Network
Numerous
researchers have speculated that adverse early rearing environments in humans
enhance vulnerability to behavior disorders, affective pathology, and drug
abuse, in part, through disturbing the development of stress-sensitive neurobiological
systems, including the LHPA system. However, the many differences between
rodents, non-human primates, and human in the neuroanatomy and physiology
of this system suggest that adequate translation of the early experience-stress
research from animals to humans, and from the level of basic science to
applied prevention, will require an iterative interdisciplinary approach
where (1) results from research on human infants and children guides the
refinement of models/theories based on the animal research, and (2) the
animal research on neurobiological mechanisms guides the methods and issues
addressed in the human research. This Network aims at exactly this and provides
the venue for a “think tank” operation in which well known developmental
investigators utilizing both animal and human models can push advances in
this area of research. This project is supported by NIMH and is housed at
the University of Minnesota where the PI, Megan
Gunnar, orchestrates these operations.
Stress
Response and Growth: Impact of Early Life Stress
The focus
of this project is to understand the role of critical developmental periods
which, when altered, lead to growth failure using the rat as an animal model.
Our laboratory collaborates with Juan
F. Lopez and Seymour
Levine as we study the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and
pituitary. These structures are thought to exert important neural and endocrine
control upon the LHPA and the growth hormone (GH) axes. This project also
explores psychopathology in families of children evaluated for short stature
in a Pediatric Endocrine clinic. Most recently we have expanded this project
with Audrey
Seasholtz as we look into molecular mechanisms responsible
for growth and HPA alterations. We
also have initiated a new line of work that focuses in the Brain Serotonin
System with Paresh
Patel and Charles
Neal. This
project is supported by NICHD
branch of NIH.
Developmental
Origins of Endocrine Dysfunction
Overview : This
new postdoctoral research training program in the Department
of Pediatrics , Division
of Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Michigan
has two main goals: 1) to provide high quality research training in one of
two major tracks, Basic Science or Clinical Investigation and Epidemiology
to pediatricians and basic scientists demonstrating a career commitment to
academic pediatric endocrinology and metabolism, and 2) to provide an interdisciplinary
research environment for the successful training of young physician-scientist
in the specific area of mechanisms playing a role in the impact of early life
events on endocrine disorders in post-natal life. In order to provide outstanding
mentorship for the trainees, the PETP
will be actively supported by 12 established
investigators from 9 different departments at the University
of Michigan, all with extensive research and mentoring experience within their
respective areas of expertise. Each trainee will be mentored by a clinical/basic
dyad of mentors to provide strong footing on hypothesis-driven translational
research, centering on developmental origin of endocrine diseases (see PETP
Faculty).
Qualifications: Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in physiology, bioengineering,
cell and molecular biology, or a related field from an accredited program.
The position is funded by a recent training award from NIH-NIDDK.
U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status is necessary due to training
grant requirements. For
further information visit our department's
website and contact individual investigators
based on your research interest. Please provide a CV, three letters of reference
(or contact information), and a detailed cover letter describing research
experience, interests, and short and long term career goals.
For more information, contact the Director or Associate Director of the Training Grant:
| Director: Delia M. Vazquez, M.D. Professor and Director of Pediatric Endocrine Fellowship Program dmvazq@umich.edu |
|
Associate
Director: |
