# Core B

> **NIH NIH P50** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $574,378

## Abstract

CORE B: ABSTRACT
Core B (Clinical and Imaging Core) will support Projects 1-3 for new clinical and translational research in
schizophrenia (SZ) and relevant animal models. Core B is built on our established cohesive and committed
team of investigators, with experts in clinical enrollment and characterization, olfactory imaging, and cortical
imaging [as a productive outcome of long-term collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center
(JHSZC) and the Center for Imaging Science (CIS) at Johns Hopkins University]. Smell deficits are one of the
most reproducible changes in SZ. One key feature of the deficits is their tight association with specific clinical
features, such as negative symptoms (e.g., avolition, anhedonia) and some cognitive deficits (e.g., social
cognitive deficits), but not with positive symptoms (e.g., hallucination, delusion). Since 2009, the NIMH
Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework has facilitated studies that focus on neurobiological processes
underlying behavioral domains/constructs, instead of considering each psychiatric diagnosis as one
homogeneous entity. One innovation of this P50 is translational research with both human and mouse studies
under specific behavioral domains/constructs of interest (mainly, positive valence systems and social
processes) in a mechanistic association with the olfactory-prefrontal circuits to account for specific clinical
domains in SZ. Thus, we will leverage the RDoC research framework to organize our research design. Based
on this framework, this Core B will assist Projects in addressing the central hypothesis that, mediated by the
olfactory-prefrontal circuits, molecular and cellular changes in the olfactory epithelium (OE) significantly
contribute to specific clinical manifestations that correlate with smell deficits in SZ patients. Accordingly, Core
B will recruit new study participants and conduct clinical assessments, combining with the existing cohort (Aim
1). We will leverage a recently established alliance of patient recruitment with the Maryland Psychiatric
Research Center (MPRC) and 10 hospitals in the MedStar Health network. We will pay a special attention to
the confounding factors associated with COVID-19 in study participant recruitment and data analysis in
collaboration with Core C (Core for data analysis). Core B will also collect and process brain imaging data
(Aim 2) to provide ex vivo mouse olfactory bulb (OB) imaging (for Project 1), process 3T resting-state
functional magnetic resonance imaging data from human healthy subjects (for Project 2), and obtain 3T
structural imaging of the OB and prefrontal cortex from newly recruited subjects in this grant proposal (for
Project 3). In summary, this Core B will acquire multimodal data from both humans and mice under a specific
scientific focus on the olfactory-prefrontal circuits.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10862179
- **Project number:** 1P50MH136297-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL I MILLER
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $574,378
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-15 → 2029-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10862179

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10862179, Core B (1P50MH136297-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10862179. Licensed CC0.

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