Fetal ethanol-induced behavioral deficits: Mechanisms, diagnoses and intervention

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PROJECT SUMMARY - OVERALL NMARC is a NIAAA-designated Alcohol Research P50 Center at the UNM Health Sciences Center. The center is comprised of teams of preclinical and clinical scientists with a history of collaborative research interactions whose expertise and contributions have synergized the center’s research environment and is facilitating progress towards the achievement of NMARC’s three strategic objectives. These strategic objectives are to: 1) Advance our understanding of how prenatal alcohol exposure affects basic neurobiological mechanisms resulting in functional brain damage which can lead to life-long adverse neurobehavioral consequences. 2) Develop more effective approaches for the diagnosis of individuals with FASD through the establishment of more sensitive and clinically reliable biochemical, physiological and neurobehavioral biomarkers of alcohol exposure that are detectible early in life, are prognostic of functional brain damage, and could predict long-lasting neurobehavioral consequences in patients with FASD. 3) Develop interventions that are more effective for prenatal alcohol- related behavioral deficits. Better interventions may ultimately require combinations of neurobehavioral, educational and/or pharmacotherapeutic approaches to ameliorate the often subtle, but long-lasting impact of prenatal alcohol-induced behavioral problems. NMARC’s prevailing philosophy is that a research center organized to maximize the coordination, communication and synergistic integration across multiple lines of preclinical and clinical investigation in these three strategic objective areas provides the best long-term prospect of achieving significant progress towards the dual clinical goals of better diagnosis and more effective interventions for patients with FASD. NMARC’s specific aims as an integrated whole during the P50 Phase II will continue to be to: 1) Accelerate progress on each on NMARC’s three strategic objectives. 2) Catalyze the expansion of NMARC’s research capacity and capabilities. 3) Enhance our capability to disseminate knowledge about FASD through seminars, symposia and community outreach activities. 4) Increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students, fellows and residents training in the FASD research field. This P50 competing renewal contains four research components, each consisting of teams of investigators whose projects address one or more of NMARC’s three strategic objectives. Two core components support the center’s research program: 1) A Pilot Project Core with two two-year projects involving faculty investigators new to the FASD research field. 2) An Administrative Core that provides scientific and administrative leadership for the entire NMARC program, along with administrative support and budgetary oversight of all NMARC-related activities. The Administrative Core is also responsible for ensuring progress toward achieving the specific aims of the center as a whole. Assessment of NMARC’s progress towards the achievement of these aims and the strategic objectives is the responsibility of the Executive and Steering Committees working in conjunction with our external Program Advisory Committee comprised of seven internationally renowned FASD scientists.