Seed Grant Awardees

Fiscal Year 27 Seed Grant Applications Are Closed

Seed grants at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB) provide early-stage funding to support innovative research led by faculty, as well as graduate students, trainees and fellows. These awards help advance promising ideas and strengthen MIDB’s diverse research portfolio in focal areas such as MRI methodologies, developmental disabilities, DOHaD, and adolescent development. Learn more about seed grants

2027 Faculty Awardees

Eunice Areba, PhD

"Impact of sociocultural factors and structural discrimination on brain development and suicide risk among diverse adolescents"

This highly interdisciplinary project brings together synergistic expertise including suicidology from clinical and public health perspectives, adolescent development, health equity, developmental neurobiology, advanced neuroimaging, and structural quantitative intersectionality. Utilizing the nationwide, longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset, our objective is to elucidate how systemic structural forces reshape adolescent neural architecture and impact suicide risk, specifically among ethnoracially minoritized youth. By merging a novel U.S. state-level structural racism index, which quantifies laws and policies tied to racism, xenophobia, and racial injustice, with longitudinal ABCD neuroimaging metrics, this project aims to: (a) examine associations between perceived interpersonal discrimination, sociocultural environmental factors, and suicide risk, and (b) map the explicit effects of structural racism on longitudinal neurodevelopmental trajectories and suicide risk. The proposed work will utilize the Analytics Hub, ensuring that our statistical approach advances adolescent neurodevelopmental science. We will also work with the Community Engagement and Education (CEEd) Hub to translate our findings into actionable policy briefs, stakeholder networks, and accessible community resources. Ultimately, this proposal capitalizes on MIDB’s neuroimaging strengths to deliver definitive, policy-informing map of how structural-level inequities impact the developing brain during the critical life stage of adolescence.

Rebekah Hudock, PhD, LP,  Chimei Lee, PhD, and Jessica Simacek, PhD

"Adapting PEERS® social skills intervention for autistic individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)" 

Autistic adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families have very few options when seeking evidence-based interventions to improve skills related to friendships and social communication. The goal of the current project is to develop and evaluate a new adapted social skills program that meets the unique needs of autistic adolescents with IDD and their caregivers. Aims of this study include: 1) exploring the experiences and perspectives of autistic individuals with IDD and their families regarding social skills interventions through focus groups and/or targeted interviews, 2) developing a social skills program for autistic individuals with IDD based on information gathered through interviews and focus groups, and 3) evaluating the implementation and acceptability of the new social skills program. Information gathered during interviews and focus groups will guide the co-designed development of the adapted program with direct input from autistic individuals with and without IDD, as well as members of the disability community to better meet the needs of autistic adolescents with IDD and their caregivers. Following development, our team will run two groups of the adapted social skills program to determine if we can successfully implement the program, if families find the program to be valuable and appropriate. We will also evaluate initial outcomes in the areas of social skills and knowledge, mental health, and caregiver stress. Data will be analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods, resulting in descriptive information and changes in skills and functioning following the intervention. Results of this study will provide valuable information regarding appropriate social interventions for autistic youth with IDD and their caregivers, an
adapted PEERS® curriculum to guide delivery of this evidence-based program with this population, and pilot data needed to apply for future funding to examine the efficacy of this program with a larger sample in a clinical trial. This project furthers the mission of MIDB by promoting skill development for individuals with disabilities that will improve quality of life for autistic individuals with IDD. The project promotes MIDB’s mission in the each of the core pillars: 1) Research & Innovation – conducting a research project to develop a new adapted social skills program for autistic youth with IDD and their families using a hybrid implementation model that include telehealth; 2) Interdisciplinary Education – engaging an interdisciplinary team of experts to complete the proposed project, which will create future opportunities to train interdisciplinary trainees and professionals in the implementation of the adapted intervention; 3) Community Engagement – engaging key community members such as autistic adolescents with IDD, their caregivers, community providers, advocacy organizations, and an advisory board throughout project activities in order to develop a program that will have the potential for real-life impacts in the promotion of social functioning for adolescents in our community; and 4) Integrated Clinical Care – providing a model of clinical research integration by engaging in translational research to create an evidence-based and family-centered intervention that meets the needs of a clinically underserved population and can eventually be implemented as a clinical service.

Jesse Kowalski, PhD

"Evaluating the influence of neuroimaging on clinical attrition, outcomes, and caregiver perceptions in high-risk neonates" 

Babies born prematurely are at high-risk for brain injury, which can result in difficulties with movement and development. Brain screening in the hospital is not always accurate in identifying babies with brain injury and can miss about half of cases. Following up with the healthcare team regularly after leaving the hospital is recommended to catch any concerns and start treatment early if needed. Unfortunately, about 1 in 3 families with preterm babies do not follow up for continued screening after leaving the hospital. Lack of follow up prevents early detection and care for babies who may need treatment such as therapy to help them develop. Families may believe that if no brain injury was found in the hospital screening their child will not have problems with development and does not need to follow up. Talking to families with preterm babies could help us learn about other reasons that follow up after leaving the hospital is difficult, which the clinic could work to find solutions for. We want to use medical records to learn if current brain screening methods are related to the 
likelihood of clinical follow up and how quickly babies are referred for diagnosis and treatment. We also want to interview families to learn about parents’ understanding of their premature baby’s risk and the benefit and challenges of follow up. This study could help us identify problems the hospital and clinic could address to reduce loss to follow up after hospital discharge and improve premature babies’ health and development. This study embodies the MIDB’s mission to merge clinical care, research, and community engagement to guide best practice and improve treatment for children in our care and the community. The results of this study will directly advance the mission of the MIDB through combined clinical and community engaged research to improve healthcare for preterm babies at risk of neurodevelopmental challenges.

Gordon Smith, PhD, Richard Betzel, PhD, and Jeffrey Wozniak, PhD, LP

"Prenatal network development in FASD: Unlocking the potential of ferret preclinical models"

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects an estimated 5% of children in the United States, leading to cognitive and sensory deficits that are believed to originate from the disruption of functional brain networks well before birth. However, the inability to assess functional brain networks in utero leaves a critical gap in understanding exactly how prenatal alcohol exposure alters initial brain assembly. To address this, we propose to use developing ferrets as a preclinical model, taking advantage of their human-like cortical architecture and an extended postnatal development window that is biologically equivalent to the human third trimester. Using whole-brain functional imaging together with computational network analysis, this project will map network development in both neurotypical and alcohol-exposed ferrets and align these metrics with existing human datasets to pinpoint how alcohol alters developmental trajectories. By bringing together an interdisciplinary team with distinct strengths in preclinical ferret systems, computational network analysis, and clinical FASD pathology, this project directly advances the mission of the MIDB by establishing a new cross-species framework for tracking brain development and maturation, ultimately paving the way for the future discovery of novel biomarkers and targeted treatments for FASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Oscar Miranda-Dominguez, PhD

"Toward precision neuromodulation for sickle cell disease: Delineating and stimulating the somato-cognitive action network"

Children and adolescents living with Sickle Cell Disease frequently suffer from severe, unpredictable episodes of chronic pain that dramatically impair their quality of life, school performance, and long-term development. Clinical approaches often rely on self-reporting, a metric that has proven to be difficult to use to track, predict, or treat pain in these vulnerable youth. This project aims to discover objective, brain-based markers of pain by mapping individual differences in a recently identified brain network, the Somato-Cognitive Action Network (SCAN), which directly links the brain's movement-control areas to internal physical systems and pain-processing pathways. Using high-density brain imaging at the MIDB Neuroimaging Hub and cutting-edge data analysis, such as Precision Functional Mapping, we will determine how person-specific variations in this network relate to a child's clinical pain severity. Additionally, using the MIDB Neuromodulation Hub, we will test whether non-invasive, targeted magnetic pulses (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS) are safe and well-tolerated in pediatric patients. Evaluating TMS tolerability is a critical objective of this pilot study, as non-invasive brain stimulation represents a promising, drug-free alternative for pain management, yet its feasibility and safety have not been systematically established in youth with sickle cell disease. Overcoming this barrier will provide the foundational safety data required to design larger clinical trials. By bridging advanced neuroimaging pipelines with direct patient care, this project furthers the mission of MIDB to accelerate community-focused, interdisciplinary discoveries that optimize healthy brain development, provide objective diagnostic tools, and pave the way for personalized, non-opioid therapies for children experiencing chronic medical conditions.

2027 Trainee Awardees

Julie Bailard

"Sex-specific reprogramming of lifelong brain energy metabolism by early-life iron deficiency"

Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world, affecting 1.9 billion people among whom pregnant women, fetuses, newborns, and toddlers are disproportionately represented. Early-life iron deficiency can interfere with brain development, reducing children’s learning rates and cognitive processing speeds. Even after regaining sufficient iron in early childhood, adolescents and adults who were iron-deficient as infants still face greater rates of cognitive dysfunction and higher incidence of several psychiatric conditions including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia. These lifelong behavioral and psychological symptoms can contribute to lower educational attainment, lost job potential, and persistent mental illness. The cellular mechanisms responsible for early-life iron deficiency’s ongoing psychological symptoms are unknown, but they may result from a reprogramming of the developing brain’s fuel use and energy production. Iron helps fuel the brain’s metabolism by being a required molecular component for multiple energy-harnessing processes, including several performed by mitochondria. Iron deficiency during early brain development may therefore cause a metabolic crisis if rapidly developing brain regions cannot access sufficient energy to fuel their cells’ growth. Our proposed study will determine whether the hippocampus, a brain region that supports learning and memory function, may lastingly reprogram its metabolism and shift its energy production after early-life iron deficiency has induced an acute energetic stress during a sensitive time of development. Even after iron levels have returned to normal, a formerly iron-deficient hippocampus may continue relying on a less sustainable pattern of fuel use to meet the high energy needs of its synapses, placing this brain region at greater risk of cellular stress. Therapeutically adjusting the activity of these energy production processes either during early childhood or in adulthood may help to more sustainably fuel the energy needs of the formerly iron-deficient mature brain. Our study would therefore lay important mechanistic groundwork needed to explore whether metabolism-targeted therapies could provide novel opportunities for treating the long-term psychological symptoms of early-life iron deficiency. Through these endeavors, this study will further the mission of MIDB to promote healthy trajectories for brain development and support brain function across the lifespan.

John France, PhD

"Investigating glutamate and GABA dynamics in the prefrontal cortex during cognition using 1 H functional MR spectroscopy at 7T"

This project will establish a novel neuroimaging approach to directly measure the fundamental chemicals of brain function (neurotransmitters Glu and GABA) in brain areas that underly complex thinking. Because developmental changes to brain function that supports complex thinking can influence risk for psychiatric disorders, this neuroimaging approach has the potential to uncover early brain-based markers of adolescent development, psychiatric risk, and resilience that are not detectable with existing methods. A major contribution of this project will be the sharing of our resulting 7T functional MRS methods and novel dataset within the MIDB community. In doing so, this project serves the MIDB mission in three ways. First, it supports a developmental framework for understanding psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, with relevance for identifying early brain-based markers of risk and resilience. Second, it leverages a unique collaboration between MIDB and 1H-MRS experts at the CMRR to refine a standardized neuroimaging approach while generating openly shared acquisition protocols, datasets, and processing pipelines that strengthen the MIDB research infrastructure. Third, integrating cutting-edge 7 T functional MRS into the MIDB ecosystem will greatly expand the institute’s research into the biological mechanisms underlying healthy brain development and mental illness across the lifespan.

Martin Gell, PhD

"Precision mapping of diurnal fluctuations in brain connectivity, structure, and physiological mechanisms"

This project represents a critical next step toward characterizing within-subject fluctuations in brain function and structure across the day and understanding their physiological origins. It leverages MIDB’s strengths in precision neuroimaging to address key gaps in our understanding of how TOD effects influence neural markers of cognition and mental health. Whereas prior studies have compared small groups of participants scanned in the morning and evening, often with insufficient precision to individualized phenotyping, this study utilises a continuous high-precision sampling approach developed based on a pilot study and simulations conducted by the applicant and their mentors. Leveraging recent advancements in acquisition and processing15,16 we plan to collect within-subject, precision imaging that significantly enhances reliability and allow for individualized fMRI-based phenotyping. Healthy adults (N=5) and adolescents (N=3) will complete 3 neuroimaging sessions across the day (morning, afternoon, and evening) to assess functional connectivity and structural integrity measures routinely collected in the field and at MIDB, and underlying physiological mechanisms. Specifically, we will test the overarching hypothesis that TOD effects in fMRI are driven by person-specific endocrine and cardiovascular changes throughout the day. We will comprehensively test this by collecting high-quality multi-echo resting-state fMRI and structural MRI, salivary hormone samples (cortisol), heart rate, and cerebral blood flow (CBF).

Lydia Lewis

"Rest and resilience: Evaluating a sleep equity intervention for children and families at risk for housing instability"

Healthy sleep is essential for children’s growth, learning, mental health, and brain development. However, many children do not get enough sleep, and teenagers are particularly vulnerable to chronic sleep loss. Families experiencing financial hardship or housing instability often face additional barriers to healthy sleep, including limited access to supportive sleep environments (e.g., lacking a bed or comfortable sleeping arrangements). These challenges may contribute not only to sleep disparities, but also to broader inequities in wellbeing and functioning. Despite the importance of sleep for healthy development, little research has examined whether bed provision is associated with meaningful improvements in sleep and wellbeing among adolescents. In partnership with My Very Own Bed (MVOB), a local nonprofit that provides beds to children across the Twin Cities, we will follow adolescents and their caregivers before and after bed delivery, using sleep monitors and brief surveys to assess changes in sleep, wellbeing, family functioning, and caregiver stress. A major objective is to determine whether we can successfully follow families over time and collect this data in community settings. Findings will provide important preliminary data to inform future studies and help build evidence for practical strategies to reduce sleep disparities. More broadly, this work aims to contribute to efforts to promote resilience and healthy development among youth experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Importantly, we hope to benefit both families and community partners by generating evidence that may help MVOB secure additional funding and expand services to more Twin Cities families. The proposed study and my overall program of research reflect MIDB’s core values of interdisciplinarity and community-based research. Furthermore, this project aligns closely with MIDB’s mission to improve brain health and help youth reach their full potential. Although this work does not directly measure the brain, sleep is a critical component of brain development, and addressing sleep disparities is an important step towards ensuring brain health equity for all children.

Adrienne Manbeck, PhD 

"Examining the impact of protective factors on wellbeing for people with Tourette Syndrome"

Societal stressors, like discrimination and stigma, have profound effects on mental health. People with Tourette Syndrome are at an increased risk of experiencing societal stressors, compared to peers without Tourette Syndrome. The proposed project aims to better understand the impact of societal stressors on mental health for people with Tourette Syndrome while also investigating possible resilience-promoting factors such as family support and pride in the Tourette Syndrome identity. The proposed project aligns with MIDB’s mission to promote brain health for all children and youth by investigating resilience-promoting factors that help children and young adults with Tourette syndrome thrive despite experiences of societal stressors. Data from the proposed project will inform future patient-centered intervention research and serve as pilot data for R-level NIH grants, such as an R01.

Qite Qi, PsyD

"Sleep disturbance in cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome"

Cardiofaciocutaneous (CFC) syndrome is a rare genetic condition that affects many aspects of development, including learning, behavior, and physical health, as well as independent living. Although sleep problems are known to have significant effects on cognitive, emotional, and overall well-being, little is known about the nature and impact of sleep disturbances in children and adolescents with CFC syndrome, which creates significant barriers for early screening, intervention, and services. Crucially, new treatments are being developed for CFC syndrome that target the underlying biological pathway (the RAS-MAPK pathway) affected by the condition. Promising clinical studies described the use of RAS-targeted therapies (i.e., MEK inhibitors) to address oncologic, neurologic, neurodevelopmental and cardiac manifestations of RASopathies, including CFC syndrome. By increasing our understanding of sleep difficulties in CFC syndrome and identifying meaningful measures of sleep and neurodevelopmental outcomes, this study will help support future clinical trials and efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of emerging treatments. As these treatments move into clinical trials, researchers need reliable ways to measure whether they improve important aspects of daily life, including sleep, learning, behavior, and overall functioning. This project seeks to address this important gap by examining the prevalence, severity, and long-term stability of sleep difficulties in youth with CFC syndrome, as well as their relationships with medical and neurodevelopmental features such as epilepsy, intellectual functioning, adaptive skills, and motor abilities. By leveraging existing data and collecting new prospective information from families, this study will improve understanding of how sleep affects health and development in this underserved population. Findings from this research may support earlier identification of sleep concerns, inform targeted behavioral and medical interventions, and contribute to more comprehensive clinical care for individuals with CFC syndrome and their families. Dissemination of the study outcomes include academic presentations, publications, and family-facing educational materials and presentations to the CFC community. Consistent with the mission of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), this project advances knowledge of factors that influence brain health and developmental outcomes, promotes interdisciplinary research focused on improving quality of life for children with neurodevelopmental conditions, and supports community education through dissemination of findings to families, clinicians, researchers, and advocacy organizations.