# National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence: Admin

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $486,486

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Alcohol use and risk for alcohol-related harm is prevalent in adolescence and young adulthood (i.e., age 12-
25), and this is also a critical time in human brain development. In response to RFA-AA-17-004, this application
proposes the Administrative Resource (AR) of the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in
Adolescence second phase (NCANDA-2), located at UC San Diego. The overarching consortium goals are to
determine the predictors and effects of heavy alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood in a
demographically representative sample of adolescents. This consortium was designed to synergize the diverse
scientific expertise and research experience of the investigators at each site. This consortium reflects seven
applications: NCANDA - Administrative Resource (UCSD) and NCANDA - Data Analysis Resource (SRI), and
five cross-national Research Project Sites, located at Duke University (Duke), Oregon Health Science
University (OHSU), University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), SRI International (SRI), and UC San Diego (UCSD).
Recruited at ages 12 through 21 across the five sites, a high-risk enhanced community sample of 831 subjects
completed a baseline assessment and three annual follow-up assessments in an accelerated longitudinal
design. NCANDA-2 will continue to follow this cohort through the typical age of lifetime peak drinking, using
multimodal neuroimaging, cognitive testing, behavioral interviews, biospecimen collection, and technology-
enhanced assessment in the natural environment. Examination of alcohol consequences will focus on
structural and functional maturation of brain areas that actively develop during adolescence, are involved in
self-regulation and reward response, and appear vulnerable to neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Five aims
specified in the RFA will be systematically tested with a focus on adolescent substance use and
neuromaturational trajectories. Each Research Project Site collaborates with another site on 1-2 additional
aims. UCSD, OHSU, and Duke are examining brain recovery in heavy drinkers over 4 weeks of monitored
abstinence. Pitt and SRI collaborate to study relations between heavy drinking, sleep characteristics, and brain
development. We are examining the influence of heavy drinking on inhibitory dysfunction and the extent to
which this mediates cognitive performance, using longitudinal fMRI connectivity analysis during anti-saccade
(Pitt, Duke) and Stroop match-to-sample (SRI and UCSD) tasks. With the additional development-specific
longitudinal data provided by this renewal, we will determine the effects of alcohol exposure on the
developmental trajectory of the adolescent human brain, and identify preexisting psychobiological
vulnerabilities that may put an adolescent or young adult at elevated risk for an alcohol use disorder or other
adverse life outcome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9961337
- **Project number:** 5U24AA021695-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** SANDRA A BROWN
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $486,486
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-09-05 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9961337

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9961337, National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence: Admin (5U24AA021695-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9961337. Licensed CC0.

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