# Brazilian-American Initiative on Neuroimaging for Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence (BRAIN-IDEA)

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2020 · $346,085

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Depression is a leading cause of disability in adolescents worldwide and is a major risk factor for suicide. Ninety
percent of the world’s adolescents live in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), yet the majority of research
on adolescent depression has been conducted in high-income countries (HIC). This leaves a significant gap in
our knowledge of the psychosocial predictors and neurodevelopmental mechanisms of adolescent depression
in low resource settings. Our team, an established global interdisciplinary consortium: Identifying Depression
Early in Adolescence (IDEA), is uniquely positioned to successfully conduct large scale longitudinal research in
LMIC settings to address these gaps. The long-term goal of the research team is to develop a cross-culturally
valid risk calculator for depression that could identify adolescents at high risk for depression to guide research,
prevention, and treatment based on knowledge of the neural networks driving depression risk. The objective for
this R21 is to test the predictive utility of a risk calculator for depression in a middle-income country and determine
whether this risk calculator predicts altered neural development within hypothesized neural networks. In addition,
the team will build capacity for adolescent neuroscience research in LMIC. The IDEA research consortium has
generated a composite risk score for the development of depression using sociodemographic variables collected
directly from the adolescent. Using this risk score, the team recruited a baseline sample of 150 adolescents
(ages 14 to 16 years, 50% female, 44% African descent) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, who were classified into one of
three groups at baseline: 50 “high-risk” participants without current or prior depression, 50 “low-risk” participants
without current or prior depression, and 50 participants with current untreated depression. During their baseline
assessment, participants completed an fMRI scan with tasks that elicited threat and reward network activity and
completed measures of depression symptoms. For this R21, they will be invited back 3 years after the baseline
assessment to complete the same measures. The research team will complete three specific aims. First, the
team will test whether risk group classification at baseline predicts changes in depression symptom severity
three years later, and whether altered development of the threat and reward brain networks explains this
association. Second, in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, the team will examine
whether changes in the threat and reward networks predict behaviors and depression symptoms associated with
negative affect and anhedonia, respectively. Third, the research team will build capacity in Brazil to conduct
interdisciplinary neuroscience research through a constellation of training programs. This research will advance
NIMH Strategic Objective 2 by characterizing developmental trajectories of brain function...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10053279
- **Project number:** 1R21MH124072-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Christian Kieling
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $346,085
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10053279

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10053279, Brazilian-American Initiative on Neuroimaging for Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence (BRAIN-IDEA) (1R21MH124072-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10053279. Licensed CC0.

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