Studying substance use and brain development

UF will participate in a landmark study of the effect of substance use on the developing brain. The National Institutes of Health Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study will follow approximately 10,000 children beginning at ages 9 to 10, before they initiate drug use, through the period of highest risk for substance use and other mental health disorders. UF was selected as one of 11 sites of the ABCD Study, which is supported by about $25 million a year in grants across the national consortium. ABCD Florida is funded by a $4.5 million award and will be led by principal investigators Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H., the dean’s professor and founding chair of the department of epidemiology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the College of Medicine, and Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and psychology and co-vice chair of the College of Medicine department of psychiatry. Scientists will track participants’ exposure to substances, such as nicotine, alcohol and marijuana, along with their academic achievement, cognitive skills, mental health, and brain structure and function. The UF team aims to follow 400 adolescents from the North Central Florida area initially over a five-year period, and ultimately over 10 years, to determine the effects of substance use on adolescent brain and cognitive development using multimodal brain imaging, cognitive and clinical assessments, bioassays, mobile monitoring, and careful assessment of substance use, environment, psychopathology and social functioning. —Jill Pease