Project description
Predicting mental disorder in youth from deviations in brain development
About 20 % of young people in the EU experience a mental disorder by the age of 24. Early detection is therefore imperative, but there are currently no consistent biomarkers to identify children at risk. Although neuroimaging studies have tried to establish links between brain development and mental health issues, they are impeded by measurement inconsistencies. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PRE-EMHPT project seeks to address these challenges by applying standardised measures of brain growth in children to predict mental health in adolescence and to detect the periods in brain development most critical for future mental health. Using brain longitudinal imaging data from nearly 20 000 children and adolescents, the project aims to establish gender-specific standard measures of brain growth and to define subgroups at risk of poor mental health.
Objective
Over the last year, a global mental health crisis has severely impacted a generation of children and adolescents, with 20% of EU youth experiencing a mental disorder by the age of 24. Despite calls by the European Child Guarantee to reduce this burden through early detection and intervention, there are still no reliable biological markers to identify children at risk of future mental health.
While mental disorders are usually first diagnosed during adolescence, the brain mechanisms underlying them begin prior to their behavioural manifestations. Looking at brain development is a promising approach to predict mental health in children, as brain follows typical growth curves during childhood. However, previous neuroimaging studies have struggled to establish a consistent link between brain development and mental health due to inconsistencies in brain measure and mental health.
The PRE-EMHPT project aims to overcome these challenges by applying standardized measures of brain growth in children to predict mental health in adolescence, and identify the key periods of brain vulnerability underlying these trajectories. It will harmonize the largest longitudinal brain imaging datasets in children from 24 cohorts, encompassing 18,000 subjects, to generate sex-specific standard brain measures for each age. From these measures, the applicant will define subgroups of subjects based on the similarity of the growth of their brain regions, and estimate their associations with mental health in adolescence. The specific periods in time increasing the risk of belonging to one subgroup will be estimated as well as the validity of the results in adolescents and young adults with psychiatric disorders.
This work will be conducted over 24 months at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin’s Centre for Population Neurosciences and Stratified Medicine (PONS), under the supervision of Prof. Gunter Schumann.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
10117 Berlin
Germany
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