# Reproducible imaging-based brain growth charts for psychiatry

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $724,789

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Major psychiatric illnesses are increasingly understood as disorders of brain development, which has led to
large-scale studies of youth that combine multi-modal neuroimaging with clinical phenotyping. Together, such
data have emphasized the promise of objective ‘growth charts’ of brain development. However, synergies
across major efforts remains unrealized due to use of different clinical instruments, different scanning
protocols, challenges in informatics, and difficulties in data integration. In this proposal, we will overcome
these obstacles by leveraging advances in multivariate harmonization and analysis techniques to build highly
reproducible growth charts of human brain development. To do this, we will aggregate and harmonize eight
existing large-scale developmental imaging studies, comprising over 10,000 participants between the age of 5-
24 (Aim 1). We will use this harmonized data to build generalizable indices of normal network brain
development (Aim 2). Finally, developmental abnormalities within specific brain networks will be linked to
dimensions of psychopathology (Aim 3). Critically, all code, data, and derived indices will be shared publicly,
creating a massive new resource to accelerate research in the developmental neuroscience community (Aim
4). In sum, this proposal will have provide a new data resource, yield reproducible growth charts of brain
development, and delineate novel mechanisms regarding the developmental basis of psychopathology in
youth.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001025
- **Project number:** 5R01MH120482-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Peter Milham
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $724,789
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-22 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001025

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001025, Reproducible imaging-based brain growth charts for psychiatry (5R01MH120482-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001025. Licensed CC0.

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