|
Objectives 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). Overall research areas People involved |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
Group leader
DRCMR
|
Group leader
HUBU Project leader DRCMR |
Hartwig Siebner Project leader of the Glucocorticoid project at DRCMR |
| Brain structure and function Behavior Bio-markers Environmental modulators Genetic polymorphisms |
Brain structure and function Behavior Bio-markers Environmental modulators Genetic polymorphisms |
Multimodal imaging Motor system Stress-markers |
 |
 |
 |
|
DRCMR
|
Jonathan Holm-Skjold
DRCMR
|
Sara Krøis Pediatric Clinic, Rigshospitalet |
|
Brain function
Behavior: emotional processing
decision making/reward |
Behavior: Emotional processing Brain structure: Brain tissue microstructure Neuro-psychological testing |
Brain structure and function Behavior Bio-markers Environmental modulators |
 |
||
| Martin Vestergaard Glucocorticoid project coordinator DRCMR |
||
|
Brain structure and function |
||
Previous group members
Arnold Skimminge: Analysis: Multimodal image data analyses: Statistical analyses
Brith Klarborg: Behavior: Rapid visual processing/attention; Brain structure: Brain tissue microstructure
Eline Bruun Ofei: Behavior: Stockings of Cambridge / planning; Brain structure: Brain tissue microstructure
Julie Hagstrøm: Neuropsychological testing
Vibe Nordahn Bredsdorff: Neuropsychological testing
Jimmy Jensen: Environmental modulators: Alcohol
Troels Lukassen: Environmental modulators: Physical activity Brain structure: Brain tissue microstructure
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 of different brain circuits among healthy children, and to link these to developing cognitive and social-emotional functions. 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 typically-developing children aged 7 to 13 years and their families were recruited to the longitudinal study of brain and behavioral development. Longitudinal assessments have been conducted at 6-month intervals, and retained 9, and 89 of these children in the second and third assessment. From the fourth assessment and onwards, a stable number of around 70-75 children and adolescents have been retained. To date, we have collected 10 assessments with 6-months interval. From the eleventh assessment, which started in May 2013, assessments are conducted annually.
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: Kathrine Skak Madsen, William Baaré, Terry Jernigan, Louise Barüel Johansen, Martin Vestergaard, Arnold Skimminge, Jonathan Holm-Skjold (neuropsychological testing), Troels Lukassen, Jimmy Jensen, 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)
- 3D Craniofacial Image Research Laboratory, Department of Odontology - School of Dentistry, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark (Prof. Sven Kreiborg)
- Research Institute for Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Centre Sct. Hans, Rosklide, Denmark (Dr. Wesley Thompson)
International:
- 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)
- 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), Hvidovre Hospital's Research Foundation and Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Copenhagen (SUND).
Publications
- Aarnink SH, Vos SB, Leemans A, Jernigan TL, Madsen KS, Baare WF. Automated longitudinal intra-subject analysis (ALISA) for diffusion MRI tractography. NeuroImage. 2014;86:404-16.
- Klarborg B, Madsen KS, Vestergaard M, Skimminge A, Jernigan TL, Baaré WFC. Sustained attention is associated with right superior longitudinal fasciculus and superior parietal white matter microstructure in children. Human Brain Mapping. 2013;34(12):3216-32.
- Madsen KS, Baaré WF, Skimminge A, Vestergaard M, Siebner HR, Jernigan TL. Brain microstructural correlates of visuospatial choise reaction time in children. Neuroimage. 2011; 58(4): 1090-1100.
- Jernigan TL, Baaré WF, Stiles J, Madsen KS. Postnatal brain development: Structural imaging of dynamic neurodevelopmental processes. Progrees in Brain Research. 2011; 189: 77-92.
- Vestergaard M, Madsen KS, Baaré WF, 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. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2011; 23(9): 2135-2146.
- 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.
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 data acquisition will be completed the end of May 2012.
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, Kristoffer Madsen
Pediatric Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet: Peter Uldall, Peter Born, Sara Krøis.
Funding
FSS (Frie Forskningsråd | Sundhed og Sygdom). The Lundbeck foundation.
Publications
- Damsted SK, Born AP, Paulson OB, Uldall P. Exogenous glucocorticoids and adverse cerebral effects in children. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2011;15(6):465-77.
