In late September, 2009, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) with co-funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a grant of nearly $9 million, provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), to fund one of their signature projects. The study, now called PING, for Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics, represents an ambitious, multi-site project involving a Coordinating Center, and 4 Scientific Cores. Leading pediatric researchers across the country are participating at nine universities nation-wide: UC San Diego, the University of Hawaii, UCLA, UC Davis, Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins, Sacker Institute at Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University, and Yale.
The overarching goal of the project is to create a large MRI and genetics data resource to be shared openly with the scientific community. The data resource will also include information about the developing mental and emotional functions of the children. Investigators on the project are studying 1400 children between the ages of 3 and 20 years so that links between genetic variation and developing patterns of brain connectivity can be examined. These data are critical for our understanding of emerging personality and mental abilities in children. One might say that PING is a study of the genetic and neural factors that contribute to individuality; understanding why we have different personalities and mental qualities is critically important for solving many problems that affect children, including mental disorders, addictions, academic problems, and learning disabilities.
The project will create a database – essentially a map depicting the genomic landscape of the developing human brain – as a resource to the scientific community. Investigators interested in the effects of a particular gene will be able to determine how variation in the gene relates to brain structure and connectivity, as well as to developing functions. Because of the wide age-range of the children, they may also be able to determine if variation in the genes relates to the course of brain development itself.
Families who may want to participate in the study, or others who want to know more about it, may email questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
