# NMARC Pilot Project Core C6

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR · 2021 · $133,640

## Abstract

The overall goal of the Pilot Project Core of the New Mexico Alcohol Research Center (NMARC) is to foster
cross-disciplinary FASD research across campus and promote growth of the Center. The Core will provide a
critical opportunity to develop new basic, translational and clinical fetal alcohol research projects that
complement and broaden the NMARC's research program portfolio. Selected projects must fit within the
context of the Center's three strategic objectives as well as build on the overall integration and sustainability of
the Center's research activities. Pilot projects will be funded for up to 2 years. The goal of each pilot project is
to obtain sufficient preliminary data to develop competitive research grant applications and cultivate new
investigators that will form part of the center. Support from the NMARC Pilot Project Core has played a crucial
role in the success of R21 and/or R01 applications submitted by center investigators. Importantly, our Pilot
Project Core has opened new and important research areas in the FASD field (e.g., impact of PAE on place
cell, grid cell, and head direction cell function; effect of PAE on pain processing; interaction between placental
dysfunction and PAE) and has brought novel approaches into the field (e.g., applied behavioral analysis in
FASD management; circular RNA studies). The Core will primarily support new investigators that have yet to
obtain substantial independent research support. A year prior to the end of the Pilot Projects that are initially
funded, a call for additional Pilot Project proposals will be widely advertised within the scientific community at
UNM, the Mind Research Network, and neighboring institutions. Each project will have an Advisory Team
composed of senior alcohol researchers with complementary scientific expertise to that of the pilot project PI.
The Center Director and NMARC Steering Committee will monitor progress of all pilot projects. Pilot project
progress will be reviewed tri-annually by the NMARC Steering Committee and annually by the Program
Advisory Committee. The Pilot Project Core goals have been successfully accomplished during the first 3½
years of the first five-year phase of the NMARC P50 award. We recruited several new investigators from
diverse fields into the FASD research field. Two R21 and one R01 grants were obtained using preliminary
data collected under the support of the Pilot Project Core. A total of 7 peer-reviewed papers have been
published or submitted by Pilot Project Core investigators. Support was preferentially provided to junior faculty
members. The Pilot Project Core will support two projects during the first two years. Project 6A will test the
hypothesis that miR-150 inhibits Vezf1 to alter angiogenesis in the developing cortices of mice prenatally
exposed to alcohol (P.I. Amy Gardiner, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Neurosciences). Project
6B will investigate the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on astrocyte and o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10207333
- **Project number:** 5P50AA022534-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Carlos Fernando Valenzuela
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $133,640
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-08-05 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10207333

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10207333, NMARC Pilot Project Core C6 (5P50AA022534-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10207333. Licensed CC0.

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