Current Studies
Clinical researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital are committed to improving our understanding of the basic mechanisms that support brain health and brain development. Below is a list of ongoing research studies that The Brain Development and Social Cognition Lab are involved with. If you are interested in learning more about any of these studies, contact Dr. Eric Nelson at Eric.Nelson@NationwideChildrens.org.
The goal of the Transgender Development Study is to get a better understanding of the complex effects hormone treatments have on mental health, brain development and overall wellbeing of transgender adolescents.
The State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience Study is a multi-site project designed to understand the factors that confer risk and resilience to mental health and substance use difficulties for individuals and their families across Ohio. In the deep phenotyping arm of the SOAR study, Nationwide Children’s is working in conjunction with The Ohio State University, Cincinnati Children’s, Case Western University and The University of Toledo to identify factors of social, brain, biological and psychological functioning that may relate to substance use and mental health problems.
Children of mothers with depression are more likely to develop depression themselves. However, not all children of depressed mothers become depressed. In this study, we are working with Dr. Katie Burkhouse (Penn State University) to examine how individual differences in emotion regulation styles are implicated in the development and course of depression in children and adolescents ages 9-14 years. This study involves completion of self-reports of mood and emotion, and completion of both an EEG and an MRI task while performing emotion-eliciting tasks. We will also perform several remote follow-up visits and a second complete in-person visits at 1 and 2 years after initiation. If you are interested in this study please contact Caley Lane or Christine Roberts.
For people with psychotic disorders, the symptoms often begin in adolescence or young adulthood. The present study is designed to assess brain structure and function and other biological measures from blood samples in adolescents undergoing early psychotic episodes. Participants will undergo brain and blood assessments during initial episode at the start of treatment and again 6 months after treatment has begun. The goal is to identify specific biological factors that may lead to initiation of psychosis as well as markers that relate to treatment response.
Acquired Demyelinating Syndromes are a class of autoimmune disorder in which the immune system causes temporary disruptions to brain function. Treatments for these disruptions are available but these disruptions may occur more than one time. The aim of this study is to understand the long-term impact acquired demyelination syndromes may have on the brain and cognitive functioning across development as well as the impact on mental health of children and adolescents.
Some children with congenital kidney disease encounter difficulties in cognitive function as they get older. Brain functions related to memory, planning, and behavioral management are often affected. Nationwide Children’s is participating in this study led by Lindsay Harshman at the University of Iowa, to assess brain development and performance on specific cognitive tasks across development in children with congenital kidney disease. Ultimately, we hope to clearly define mechanisms associated with the cognitive difficulties some children have in order to facilitate development of future treatments.
Anhedonia or the inability to experience positive emotions is a symptom of depression and associated with suicidal behavior. This study is designed to assess anhedonia and the underlying brain systems that support positive emotions in youth with suicidal behavior before and after undergoing treatment. The aim is to better understand how this specific symptom relates to suicide and responds to depression treatment.
Rumination is the act of perseverative thinking about negative emotional experiences and is a core symptom of depression. In this study brain scans will be combined with a smart phone-based probes to capture rumination patterns in adolescents who are at risk for depression but have not yet developed full depression symptoms. The goal is to detect the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of perseverative thoughts which may precede onset of depression.
Social difficulties commonly occur in people with psychiatric disorders. Detection of eyegaze is one specific social function that is often altered in people across a variety of psychiatric conditions. Nationwide Children’s is participating in this study led by Ivy Tso at The Ohio State University to study the brain, cognitive, and social functioning difficulties that are associated with eyegaze disruptions in adolescents and adults with a variety of different psychiatric diagnoses.