PROJECT SUMMARY – BIOSTATISTICS CORE Biostatistical support is essential for the clinical, animal model systems, and basic science efforts of the Center in order to enhance the rigor and reproducibility of the proposed work. The overall goal for the Biostatistics Core of the UC Davis Conte Center is to ensure that sound experimental design and rigorous statistical analyses are used to address the scientific aims of the Center and advance our understanding of how early maternal immune activation alters brain development in offspring, leading to structural and functional changes in the brain that are associated with the emergence of psychopathology in adolescence and young adulthood. Involvement of the Biostatistics Core from the earliest stages of research design of the studies through the completion of data analysis and presentation of results will be critical. The Biostatistics Core will provide both a framework and a core group of statisticians for addressing these statistical design and analyses issues. In addition, the Biostatistics core will continue to advance the research education mission of the UC Davis Conte Center by providing study design and statistics training for junior investigators in the Center and thus contributing to the capabilities of the next generation of translational neuroscientists. Specifically, the Biostatistics Core aims to: (i) Provide access for all Conte Center investigators to the appropriate level of statistical support for the design, analysis, and interpretation of the results of their studies, (ii) Provide database support for Conte Center investigators, including consultation on design and development of study-specific REDCap databases and coordination of data sharing (e.g., group assignment and other relevant characteristics) across projects, and (iii) Provide education and mentoring in the biostatistical skills necessary to address Conte Center research goals, especially to junior faculty and trainees, through a combination of formal mentoring and informal guidance. Our Biostatistics Core faculty have been deeply involved in the development of the proposed projects and understand their objectives, the high levels of interdependency among the projects, and the methodological challenges that must be addressed so that study variables and knowledge developed in one project can be optimally incorporated into the design, analysis and interpretation of related projects. In this renewal application, the Biostatistics Core is highly integrated with all components of the Conte Center. Biostatistics Core personnel will interact directly with each of the five projects to support the planning and analyses of both animal model system experiments and human studies, and in the integration of the results of each individual Project across the Center to enable robust and rigorous testing of our Center Hypothesis.