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Objectives
The focus of the research group is on brain and behavioral development during childhood and adolescence in health and disease, and on the impact of genetic, biological and environmental factors. Structural and functional brain maturation is assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Measurements, such as brain structure volumes, cortical thickness and area, fractional anisotropy (a measure of white matter microstructure), fiber tract characteristics, and brain activation during the performance of specific psychological tasks, are related to clinical, behavioral, biochemical and genetic variables. Individual projects acquire longitudinal data to allow investigating individual maturational trajectories.
The two main research projects in the field of brain maturation are the HUBU (“Hjernens Udvikling hos Børn og Unge“: Brain maturation in children and adolescents) project and the Glucocorticoid project (see below).
Resources
Human MR scanning is performed on a 3T Siemens Trio scanner. Preclinical scanning is done on a 4.7 T pre-clinical Varian MR-scanner with newly installed strong gradients. Computational resources consist of a local computer cluster and a cluster at the Technical University of Copenhagen.
Main Projects:
HUBU (“Hjernens Udvikling hos Børn og Unge“: Brain maturation in children and adolescents)
The major aims of the project are to define the degree of variability in the maturational trajectories observed for individual children, and to link these to evolving cognitive abilities and social-emotional behavior. Additionally, the work addresses critical questions regarding the factors that place young people at risk for developing emotional problems and substance abuse, as well as related questions regarding the consequences of early stress and exposure to alcohol and drugs on continuing biological development of the brain.
Initiated by Terry Jernigan in 2007 and in collaboration with the Danish School of Education and the National Center for Reading, 94 normally developing children, 7–13 years of age, and their families were recruited to a longitudinal study of brain and behavioral development. Longitudinal assessments are conducted at 6-month intervals and 92, 89, 76, 76, 74, 75, 74 of these children were retained for respectively the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eight longitudinal assessment. The ninth assessment started in June 2011. We plan to recruit 50 additional participants
Besides MR scanning, the research protocol includes neuropsychological tests, questionnaires assessing among other things personality traits, stressful life events, alcohol use (from age 12), collection of saliva samples (measurement of stress markers, sex hormones, and genetic polymorphisms). Moreover, in parallel to the first 5 assessments the Danish School of Education and the National Center for Reading tested children’s math and reading skills at their schools.
Click for information in Danish for HUBU participants
HUBU Research Group
DRCMR: Terry Jernigan, William Baaré, Kathrine Skak Madsen, Martin Vestergaard, Arnold Skimminge, Pernille Iversen (database management), Louise Baruël Johansen, Eline Bruun Ofei, Julie Hagstrøm (neuropsychological testing), Sussi Larsen (MR-scanning, acquisition saliva samples)
Collaborations
National:
- Center for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging (CIMBI), Copenhagen, Denmark (Prof. Gitte Moos Knudsen)
- Neurobiology Research Unit (NRU), Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark (Prof. Gitte Moos Knudsen).
- Informatics and Mathematical Modeling (IMM), The Technical University of Denmark (Prof. Lars Kai Hansen, Prof. Rasmus Larsen)
- Institute of Public Health, Department of Health Psychology, University of Copenhagen (Associate Prof. Erik Lykke Mortensen)
- Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark (Assistant Prof. Lisser Rye Ejersbo)
- National Center for Reading (Associate Prof. Bo Steffensen)
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark (associate Prof. Christian Gerlach)
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Bispebjerg, Denmark (Senior Consultant, PhD Katrine Pagsberg)
- Center for Visual Cognition, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen Denmark (MSc psych., Thomas Alrik Sørensen, and Prof. Claus Bundesen)
International:
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Center for Human Development, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA (Prof. Terry Jernigan)
- Multimodal Imaging Laboratory, the Departments of Neurosciences and Radiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA (Prof. Anders Dale)
- Scripps Genomic Medicine & Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), Scripps Health & The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA (PhD Cinnamon S. Bloss, Neuropsychology & Clinical Genomics)
- Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Dr. Alexander Leemans)
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Center for the Study of Human Cognition (CSHC), University of Oslo, Norway (Profs. Kristine Walhovd & Anders Fjell)
Funding
FSS (Frie Forskningsråd | Sundhed og Sygdom). The Lundbeck foundation. The “Forsknings- og Innovationsstyrelsen” (FIST) and Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Copenhagen (SUND).
Publications
- Madsen KS, Baare WF, Vestergaard M, Skimminge A, Ejersbo LR, Ramsoy TZ, Gerlach C, Akeson P, Paulson OB, Jernigan TL. Response inhibition is associated with white matter microstructure in children. Neuropsychologia. 2010;48(4):854-862.
- Vestergaard M, Madsen KS, Baaré WFC, Skimminge A, Ejersbo LR, Ramsøy TZ, Gerlach C, Åkeson P, Paulson OB, Jernigan TL. White matter microstructure in superior longitudinal fasciculus associated with spatial working memory performance in children. J Cogn Neurosci. 2011;23(9):2135-46
- Madsen KS, Baaré WF, Skimminge A, Vestergaard M, Siebner HR, Jernigan TL. Brain microstructural correlates of visuospatial choice reaction time in children. Neuroimage. 2011 Jul 21. [Epub ahead of print]
Glucocorticoid project
The focus of the project is on associations between the human stress hormone cortisol (glucocorticoid) and brain maturation in school children ages 7-14 years.
The project started in the summer of 2010.
The project examines potential long-term effects of glucocorticoid treatment in early life on brain development and associations between cortisol secretion in typically-developing children and brain structure and function measured with MRI.
To examine the long-term effects of glucocorticoids, two clinical groups diagnosed with rheumatic or nephritic disorder are enrolled in the study alongside a control group matched on gender and age. The two clinical groups have been treated with high doses of exogenous glucocorticoid in preschool years. All participants undergo structural MRI and DWI, and clinical and neuropsychological assessments. Furthermore, two fMRI paradigms designed to engage brain regions enriched with glucocorticoid receptors have been implemented. Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase samples are collected during scanning and on two separate normal weekdays. A follow-up assessment is planned one year after the baseline assessment to explore for variability in individual developmental trajectories, glucocorticoid treatment and cortisol response.
Glucocorticoid Research Group
DRCMR: Hartwig Siebner, Olaf Paulson (supervisor), William Baaré, Martin Vestergaard, Kathrine Skak Madsen, Julian Macoveanu
Pediatric Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet: Peter Uldall, Peter Born, Sara Krøis.
Funding
FSS (Frie Forskningsråd | Sundhed og Sygdom). The Lundbeck foundation.
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