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Brain Research Across Development Laboratory (B-RAD Lab)
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Ongoing projects within the B-RAD Lab

HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study

We are helping run the EEG and MRI portions of the HBCD Study. Learn more about the overall project here: 
heal.nih.gov/research/infants-and-children/healthy-brain

Can we delineate cognitive processes involved in social attention?
Link to project page

As an instrumental skill for maintaining positive social relationships, social attention is critical for understanding and learning about people, yet it is unclear whether there are distinct subdomains of endogenous (automatic) and exogenous (directed) social attention. This project aims to characterize these aspects of social attention across brain and behavior measurements in a large and diverse sample of adolescents. This information will improve our conceptualization of social attention, as well as mapping social attention abilities to individual differences in real-world sociocognitive abilities and biological factors.
  • Supported by NIMH Grant
  • Enrollment of adolescents age 11, 12, and 13 opening soon!
  • Collaborators: Dr. Mengya Xia​​
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Are social attention and social motivation distinct in autism and social anxiety? 
Link to project page

We rely on brain mechanisms of social attention to learn and understand the actions of others, yet these abilities are disrupted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD).  Similar to the NIMH project described above, we are interested in measuring whether there are shared mechanisms within these areas of social cognition -- but also if there are unique patterns or subgroups for ASD and/or SAD.

Social attention brain mechanisms are in large part automatic, but may also be driven by differences in social motivation (e.g, the intrinsic desire to engage and connect with others). However, although heavily featured in the context of social impairments in ASD, the concept of social motivation is poorly defined in healthy or non-clinical populations. Graduate student Nicole Friedman is leading our efforts to better understand social motivation. 
  • Supported by an internal pilot grant from UA
  • Enrollment open! (some delays due to COVID). (1) Health adults, age 18+; and (2) Adolescents age 12-16:
    • With autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
    • With social anxiety disorder (SAD)
    • With no known disorder

Linking gene, brain, and behavior: How do attention brain biomarkers relate to behaviors in children with disruptive GRIN2B mutations?
Link to project page

GRIN2B ​is a gene that encodes proteins that together form a receptor that manages how brain signals are sent in the brain. Disruptions to the GRIN2B gene are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (including autism spectrum disorder), hypotonia, seizures, and speech and behavior difficulties. However, the connection between preclinical animal models of GRIN2B and the human profiles of these phenotypes is less clear. The objective of this project is to establish a candidate biological indicator (“biomarker”) to the clinical and behavioral profile of children with disruptive GRIN2B mutations.  

We are targeting an electroencephalography (EEG) attention response known as the P3a as a candidate biomarker. We predict the P3a will relate to attention and sensory behaviors in children with disruptive GRIN2B mutations. 
  • Supported by grant from GRIN2B Foundation
  • Enrollment open! (some delays due to COVID)
  • We work closely with the University of Washington TIGER study
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Linking gene, brain, and behavior: Do distinct phenotypes of SCN2A (loss vs gain of function) exhibit unique attention biomarkers?
​Link to project page

SCN2A is a gene that encodes proteins that regulate action potentials in the brain, particularly during early development. However, there are two different SCN2A phenotypes based upon where the genetic disruption is located: (1) Children with a loss-of-function variant exhibit features of ASD and broad intellectual disabilities, whereas (2) children with a gain-of-function variant exhibit a strong infantile epileptic encephalopathy (IEE) phenotype characterized by seizures early in life. 

We are targeting an electroencephalography (EEG) attention response known as the P3a as a candidate biomarker. Here, we will specifically look how the P3a signal changes over time (i.e., habituation response) with a prediction that the IEE response will be distinct from the loss-of-function and ASD response. 
  • Supported by grant from FamiliesSCN2A Foundation
  • Enrollment open! (some delays due to COVID)
  • We work closely with the University of Washington TIGER study
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Additional projects and collaborations 

Addressing rural health disparities: Identifying underlying mechanisms and developmental trajectories. This is a university-wide effort to generate a rural longitudinal child cohort (20 weeks gestational age to 12 years old) with medical, behavioral, clinical, and brain measurements. This is led in part by Dr. Sharlene Newman, Director of the Alabama Life Research Institute
Interactions between motor & cognitive systems in autism. Dr. Dario Martelli (UA in Mechanical Engineering) is working with the B-RAD lab to discover how dual-task requirements effect postural control and gait. In other words, as you have to expend more brain power, does that affect how you stand or walk? We have a special interest in examining these effects in autism spectrum disorder.
Unpacking the impact of concussion. With my collaborators at UA (Drs. Jessica Wallace, Sharlene Newman, Lee Winchester, and Ryan Moran), we aim to identify brain and blood biomarkers following sports-related concussion. We are also interested in the negative consequences associated with racial disparities in concussion treatment and recovery.
Gene by Environment interactions related to autism genes. Together with Dr. Ryan Earley (Biology), we will examine how environmental experiences affect later behaviors. We are particularly interested in behaviors also associated with autism (e.g. social avoidance).
Genetics-first approach: Capturing unique subgroups of autism. We specifically look at different biomarkers that relate to different levels of the phenotype (genes, proteins, protein networks, cells, neural synapses, neural circuits, physiology, information processing, behavior, and diagnosis). Collaborators: Drs. Sara Jane Webb, Rachel Earl, Eva Kurtz-Nelson, and Evan Eichler (not pictured) at the University of Washington
Investigation of habituation (i.e., learning) profiles associated with genetic disruptions. With our collaborators Laura Blok and Dr. Annette Schenck at Radboud University in the Netherlands, we are looking at the similarities in learning patterns in fruit flies and humans with known (or specifically knocked out in the fruit flies) genetic disruptions.
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  • Home
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Research
    • Projects & Goals
    • BioGENE Project
    • BBAD Project
    • Love Brain Study
    • Social Attention Project
  • People
    • B-RAD Alumni
    • Prospective Grad Students
    • Prospective Interns
  • News
  • Pubs
    • Posters
  • Contact | Map
  • For Participants
    • Summer Camp 2022
    • What does EEG look like for me?