Brown University

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2006-08

Voltage-gated calcium ion channels are critically important proteins that regulate release of glutamate and substance P from nociceptors in the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord. As such, they serve as the gatekeepers, at the junction of the periphery and central nervous system, conveying information about touch, heat, mechanical stimulation and more to the brain. High heat or strong mechanical stimuli are noxious and perceived in the brain as painful. Neurons that detect potentially harmful signals, such as high heat, are essential for protecting the body against damage. In response to continued stimulation, such as occurs in tissue injury, these neurons can sensitize as part of a protective response, but their sensitivity usually returns to normal after healing. In certain chronic pain conditions, such as after peripheral nerve injury, the sensitivity of nociceptors fails to return to pre injury levels and normal heat and touch continue to be perceived as painful. This persistence of sensitization combined with ongoing spontaneous activity of pain circuits can result in unrelenting, chronic pain. Understanding the molecular and cellular changes that occur during the transition from normal to chronic pain states are the key to improving current – inadequate – therapies. This proposal builds on our recent discoveries and our unique expertise to determine the role of voltage-gated calcium ion channels in sensory neurons that contribute to chronic pain. We study Cacna1a and Cacna1b genes that encode the core subunits of two calcium ion channels, CaV2.1 and CaV2.2, that control transmitter release at the majority of synapses in the mammalian nervous system. We tackle two critically important questions in our overall objective to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate Cacna1a and Cacna1b processing and their actions in different subtypes of sensory neurons that transmit information about thermal and mechanical stimuli: Aim 1. What cellular factors control the expression of the major forms of CaV2 channels in thermal and mechanical signaling? What molecular changes disrupt the normal pattern of expression of these calcium ion channels in chronic pain? Aim 2. How do different calcium ion channels function in thermal and mechanical signaling at peripheral nerve endings in skin? And do the abnormal expression patterns of different forms of ion channels contribute to the induction and maintenance of abnormal signaling? Our research addresses major gaps in our understanding, and the results will contribute to new strategies and reveal new targets for pharmacological or genetic approaches, to mitigate certain forms of chronic pain experienced by millions of people in the United States.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2004-05

Project Summary Currently, more than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD); a number that is expected to more than double by 2050. The projected growth in population aging and dementia requires an army of skilled researchers to accelerate research on ADRD and produce evidence that provides better clinical care and services for people living with dementia and their families - goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease. The proposed training program, "TRAINing in Aging Health & Health Services for Dementia Care (TRAIN-AD),” seeks to develop the next generation of researchers skilled at integrating epidemiological and biostatistics methods into health services research with applications in dementia care. Over the last decade, major advances in the knowledge base of gerontology, with an emphasis on ADRD, have been occurring thanks to a proliferation of genetic, clinical, epidemiological and health services data that can be leveraged to address novel research questions. Researchers of the future must know how to maximize the use of these data sources. Thus, in the future there will be a premium placed on young investigators cognizant of methodological advances ranging from new strategies for collecting, merging and managing data sets; new and refined statistics and analytic strategies; and major new tools for integrating social, health, and biological data. The proposed renewal of our training program addresses the major goals of the NIA Strategic Plan for research, by educating well-trained researchers with multi-disciplinary experience and a broad understanding of the biological, social, health, service and policy aspects of aging and dementia care. Building upon a rich research and training environment with over two decades of experience training investigators focused on understanding how the older adults use and are affected by health services, this competing renewal application will: 1) Recruit high quality doctoral students into aging research with a specific focus on ADRD; 2) Provide training in substantive topics relevant to health services research in aging and ADRD; 3) Provide education in epidemiological and statistical methods with applications to aging and ADRD research; 4) Provide research experiences in ongoing health services research projects related to aging and ADRD; and 5) Prepare students for research careers as independent scientists and leaders. Since our last renewal, the number and quality of applicants has tripled and over half of the students this training grant has supported are from historically under- represented groups. Given the increase in NIA-funded ADRD-related research among our faculty and students, we are requesting 4 predoctoral slots who will be served by 36 trainers under this renewal.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2003-07

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The aim of our multidisciplinary program is to train postdoctoral biomedical, behavioral, health care and other public health scientists to conduct innovative and rigorous addiction treatment research. An overarching goal is to enhance the scientific reasoning skills needed to advance treatment options for people who struggle to reduce their substance use. From our perspective, such research will benefit from interventions guided by sophisticated and fully developed theory using a multidisciplinary framework that includes the biological, psychological, social, cultural, and policy context in which interventions occur. Distinctive features of our training program are that it is interdisciplinary; that it embraces no single ideology or theory concerning the nature of dysfunctions related to drug use; that it provides training in early intervention and treatment along a continuum; and that it provides trainees with highly individualized opportunities to develop competitive grant applications and by doing so, contribute to the knowledge base of substance-related dysfunction and treatment. The training experience is structured to provide individualized research experience and training, complemented by a core academic curriculum to which 20% of fellows' training time is allocated. Four distinct areas are covered in the curriculum: (1) statistics/research methodology; (2) grantsmanship; (3) ethical issues in research; and (4) a two-year series of formal courses covering the etiology and treatment of substance use from varying disciplinary perspectives. We also subscribe to a research apprenticeship model under the guidance of the research mentor. Each fellow's individual research training experience emerges from an individualized development plan developed by the fellow, agreed to by their mentor(s), and reviewed and approved by the Training Committee. The program has a primary emphasis on training in innovative treatment development and clinical trials research with a secondary emphasis on the translation of clinical research into services research. Our research in behavioral economics, neuroscience, and pharmacotherapy expands our focus of translational research from basic to clinical. An additional area of prominence in our training program is tobacco regulatory science. The typical training program duration is two years, but we offer a third year when needed. The program accepts on average two new fellows per academic year.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2001-07

OVERALL COMPONENT: PROJECT SUMMARY The Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) promotes innovative research on social, institutional, and environmental dimensions of population structures and processes fundamental to health and well-being. Established in 1964, the PSTC benefits from a deep, interdisciplinary network of committed scholars at Brown. This application describes how a new round of dedicated resources for this dynamic community of 62 faculty associates will advance knowledge within and across social science and public health fields, and leverage significant university investment for research activity. The PSTC will make distinctive intellectual contributions in each of five Primary Research Areas: Migration and Urbanization; Children, Families, and Health; Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS; Population, Development, and Environment; and Social Foundations of Health Disparities.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1999-07

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Our Interdisciplinary Predoctoral Neuroscience Training Program strives to provide individualized, high quality training to predoctoral students interested in pursuing scientific careers in the biological and biomedical sciences. This training grant will support 8 students in their first two years of graduate studies, before they start their dissertation research. Graduate students in our program receive broad, multi-disciplinary training that spans many levels of inquiry, from genes through cognition, and emphasizes concepts, methodologies, experimental design, quantitative skills and program, and sophisticated analysis of the primary literature. Our core curriculum consists of graduate only courses, seminars, and workshops that provide a strong scientific foundation in neuroscience and develop skills that are essential for successful, independent research careers in neuroscience, such as effective science writing and oral presentation, knowledge of scientific review processes, and training in ethics. New initiatives include a revised advising system, more structured program evaluation, and greatly expanded quantitative training. We foster an environment unconstrained by traditional discipline boundaries, where graduate students are encouraged to work at the interfaces of these disciplines. The training program includes 39 core participating faculty and ~60 predoctoral trainees. The faculty trainers are drawn from eight different Brown University departments: Neuroscience; Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences; Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry; Engineering; Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology; Biostatistics; Neurology; and Neurosurgery. They are a distinguished and energetic group of brain scientists that collectively cover the spectrum of modern neuroscience research: they work with a wide variety of model organisms, from worms to humans, and use an array of modern neuroscience techniques, including functional MRI, applications of robotics and neuroprosthetics, optogenetics, advanced in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological recordings, mouse transgenics, behavioral studies, molecular manipulations of neuronal genes, functional proteomics, and human genome-wide association studies. We encourage and facilitate collaborations between labs as well as research in computational and translational neuroscience that typically reside at the interface of disciplines. Key features of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Brown include excellence in research along with excellence in education and mentorship, recruitment and retention of high caliber students and trainers; a history of interdisciplinary and translational research; rigorous training in experimental design and quantitative methods, and an environment of highly productive labs where graduate students are equal partners in the research process.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1987-09

PROJECT SUMMARY The Population Studies and Training Center of Brown University (PSTC) requests continuing support for its T32 National Research Service Award. The long-term goal of the PSTC Demography Training Program is to prepare predoctoral and postdoctoral social scientists to become internationally renowned population investigators and scholars. More concretely, our objectives are to promote research, publication, and grant funding among trainees during and after training. We request support for five predoctoral trainees and one postdoctoral trainee. In this application, we provide evidence of a strong interdisciplinary training program, supported by productive, committed faculty, focused on training doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows from Anthropology, Economics, Sociology, and Public Health. We demonstrate that the PSTC training program shows ample evidence of continued intellectual and organizational evolution and dynamic synergy across disciplines and career stages, from new trainee through senior scholar, and a commitment to excellence that will produce the highest quality population science scholars. We show excellent recruitment, retention and placement outcomes in the previous grant period, and we focus on maintaining this excellence while improving professionalization and enhancing young scholars’ paths to future independence with this new application. The PSTC training program proposed here builds on a dynamic research infrastructure. Guided by the NICHD mission to support research, data collection, and research training in demography, reproductive health, and population health, the PSTC makes distinctive intellectual contributions in five primary areas: Migration and Urbanization; Population, Development, and Environment; Children, Families, and Health; Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS; and Social Foundations of Health Disparities. PSTC research is methodologically broad and innovative, with unique contributions to methods in anthropological demography, spatial and contextual approaches, and research design and causal inference. Predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees are integrated into all these areas. Their training is advanced through coursework, mentored research, working groups, colloquia, methods modules, and professionalization workshops. We show evidence of major institutional support in the form of physical space, significant investments in graduate education generally, and targeted funds to support trainees. Predoctoral trainees are typically selected for T32 funding for one or two years during second or third year of graduate school. An active Training Committee supervises the design of the program and coordinates with our participating departments. The Training Director supports the day-to-day operation of the program. We describe both continuing and innovative organizational and pedagogical efforts to secure the training goals we outline in this application.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2024 · 1986-09

ABSTRACT Over the past 37 years, Brown University's AHRQ-supported Institutional T32 Training Program has developed over 70 interdisciplinary and highly productive pre and post-doctoral health services researchers. Nearly all former trainees are employed in faculty, government or private sector research positions. Our last two awards provided support for pre-doctoral trainees in health services research, and we capitalized on that opportunity to successfully recruit talented students who have now become promising health services researchers. We attribute our success in both pre- and post-doctoral training to: 1) attracting and recruiting high quality, diverse applicants; 2) an individualized training experience to meet trainee goals; 3) a mentoring strategy consistent with multidisciplinary work; 4) an organizational culture of synergy between training and research missions; 5) an extensive research portfolio ($42 million in 2022); and 6) over 30 multidisciplinary faculty committed to pre and post-doctoral training. Major changes in health care policy and delivery system reform make it essential to have well trained researchers operating in academic, government and private sector settings who understand the factors shaping these trends and who have the skill to evaluate their impact and design alternative approaches. To address this need, our training program aims to produce health services researchers who have the leadership skills and methodologic expertise to inform policy, improve health system performance, and, promote better population health outcomes. Specific objectives of this training program are: 1) To recruit highly qualified and socio-demographically diverse post- and pre-doctoral trainees; 2) To develop scientists experienced in the use of state-of-the-art health services research methods, with specific foci in evidence- based medicine, comparative effectiveness research, chronic disease and aging, etc.; 3) To develop scientists skilled in the communication of scientific knowledge who are able to work in multidisciplinary teams in academia, government and the private sector; 4) To provide didactic as well as "hands on" supervised experience in research by matching trainees with externally funded research teams; and, 5) To develop scientists equipped with the leadership skills to improve health care delivery and influence health policy.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1986-08

The specific aims of this postdoctoral training program are threefold. The first is to recruit early-career behavioral, biomedical, and social scientists, as well as health care professionals, to conduct high-quality research in the early intervention and treatment of alcohol-related issues. The second is to provide fellows with rigorous interdisciplinary training in addiction science and grant writing through a combination of didactic and practical training and individualized mentorship from leading researchers and clinical scientists. The third is to ensure fellows reach their scientific career objectives by tailoring training opportunities to their unique goals and needs. From its inception, distinctive features of our program include its interdisciplinary nature, focus on training in early intervention and treatment of alcohol-related issues along a continuum, and emphasis on highly individualized opportunities to develop competitive grant applications and, by doing so, contribute new knowledge about alcohol-related dysfunction and treatment. We stress the importance of integrating theory, research, and the latest technologies to advance intervention strategies across development. Fellows gain expertise in the most rigorous and precise experimental and clinical trial methods and learn the most cutting-edge and robust statistical techniques. Across all training activities, we emphasize responsible conduct of research and the importance of scientific rigor and reproducibility. Our unwavering mission is to produce the next generation of addiction scholars focused on innovative research, advanced dissemination and implementation strategies, and public education.

Other NSERC · FY 2024

colloidal membranes, soft matter, vesicle formation, modelling, membrane pore opening/closure, partial differential equations, differential geometry, calculus of variations, numerical simulations

Other NSERC · FY 2024

Social Learning, Human-Animal Interactions, Comparative Cognition, Canine Cognition, Domestic Dog, Eye-tracking, Cooperation, Joint Attention