A Wellcome Discovery Award funds a new groundbreaking study characterising the development of the brain during childhood and adolescence in unprecedented detail. New funding will allow researchers to uncover new information about the changes that occur in the developing brain during late childhood and adolescence, with a focus on both neurotypical and neurodivergent development.
A Wellcome Discovery Award has been awarded to Cardiff University to lead a cutting edge new research project, together with Cambridge University and the Donders Institute in The Netherlands. The award of ¤7,015,996 will fund research that aims to understand how the development of the brain at the microscopic level between the ages of 8 and 18 years is linked to cognitive and social-emotional development.
The research will also investigate brain development in children and adolescents with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, shedding light on the neurodevelopmental and mental health implications. Professor Derek Jones, Director of the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) and School of Psychology at Cardiff University, said: "The award will enable us to use advanced imaging techniques to study macroscopic and microscopic changes in the developing brain to a level that has never been attempted before. Whilst broad changes in the brain during development are now relatively well established, much less is known about brain development at the level of the cell and the connections between them "
Professor Rogier Kievit at the Donders Institute, added: "We increasingly realize that to truly understand the development of the brain and challenges that might arise, we must study how the brains and behaviours of people change over time. This project will allow us a unique combination of spatial precision across a period of years to see how brain changes emerge and unfold"
The team of investigators hopes that the findings of their study will be applied in the future to facilitate early detection of mental health risk and provide an evidence base for longer-term interventions.
