Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development

by: Michael Saunders

The National Institutes of Health, also referred to as NIH, is an agency that is operating under the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The NIH is primarily responsible for ensuring all of the country's biomedical and health-related research studies. The attempts of the NIH are always geared towards the attainment of their mission, which is to "seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability."

In line with this mission, the National Institutes of Health, in close cooperation with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has established the Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development Project.

The Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development Project intends to determine the effects of adolescent binge drinking on the synaptic maturation and myelin formation in the a person's developing brain.

The NIH and NIAAA plans to achieve this by soliciting exploratory or developmental research grant proposals that would potentially help in identifying the long-term consequences of adolescent binge drinking in the maturation of brain structure and its functions.

In addition, the NIH and NIAAA will utilize this research studies on animal models in order to unravel the underlying effects of excessive alcohol consumption on genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms.

The scope of the study will include, but is not necessarily limited to:

1) The anatomical or functional studies on cortical synapse pruning or refinement in models of adolescent binge drinking.

  (continued...)

Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development
  Page 2

About The Author Michael Saunders is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. He also maintains Websites providing resources on environmental grants and grants for youth programs.

Additional Resources

category - Health Grants

Excellence in Hemoglobinopathies Research Award Program
The National Institutes of Health has formed a collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in an effort to establish the Excellence in Hemoglobinopathies Research Award Program wherein both agencies have agreed to financially support the creation of studies that could potentially improve high-impact multi-disciplinary basic and translational research studies in the hemoglobinopathies.

---

Health Care Innovation Challenge
The Centers for Medicare and & Medicaid Services has recently established the Health Care Innovation Challenge in an attempt to solicit proposals to establish interesting new models of service delivery that can potentially deliver the three-part aim of better health, better health care, and finally, lower costs through the improved quality of Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program.

---

Exploratory Clinical Trials for Small Business Grant Program
The National Institutes of Health has formed a partnership with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in order to establish the Exploratory Clinical Trials for Small Business Grant Program wherein they aim to establish a vehicle for Small Business Concerns (SBCs) in the process of submitting Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications for exploratory clinical trials directly to the NIND

---

Modeling Social Behavior Grant Program
The National Institutes of Health has collaborated with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in order to establish the Modeling Social Behavior Grant Program wherein they intend to seek applications for the development and evaluation of innovative theories, as well as computational, mathematical, and engineering approaches that could better our understanding of a human being's social behavior.

---