# NCANDA Research Project Site: SRI

> **NIH NIH U01** · SRI INTERNATIONAL · 2020 · $763,223

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
During young adulthood, drinking dramatically increases, with binge-level drinking peaking at age 22 and
nearly half of individuals reporting binge-level alcohol use. Frequent binge alcohol use during the protracted
neuromaturation spanning into the mid-20s may result in greater brain and cognitive effects than similar
alcohol use in later adulthood. In response to RFA-AA-17-003, this application proposes a Research Project
Site of the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence second phase (NCANDA-2)
to determine the predictors and effects of heavy adolescent alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood.
To achieve this, the SRI site of NCANDA-2 will continue to follow a cohort of 169 San Francisco Bay Area
(n=831 across all 5 sites) participants (ages 12-21 at baseline first visit) to acquire the necessary data to
advance our understanding of adolescent development and the effects of alcohol use during adolescence on
the adult brain. NCANDA-2 will use multimodal neuroimaging, cognitive testing, behavioral assessment,
biospecimen collection, and multimodal assessments in the natural environment. The examination of alcohol
consequences will focus on structural and functional maturation of brain areas that actively develop during
adolescence and young adulthood, are involved in psychological regulation, respond to rewards, and appear
vulnerable to neurotoxic effects of alcohol. In addition, the SRI will collaborate with the University of Pittsburgh
NCANDA site to study sleep-related predictors and effects of alcohol use in a subgroup of adolescents.
Behavioral and electrophysiological measures will be made on overnight visits, including
electroencephalography, auditory evoked slow-wave potentials during sleep (K-complexes), and heart rate
variability measures of autonomic function during sleep. Sleep-brain structural relationships will also be
investigated. SRI will also collaborate with the UCSD site to collect the Stroop task in the fMRI environment to
evaluate changes in the cognitive control system for youth who increase drinking versus those who do not.
Sex differences in development, alcohol use patterns and history, impact of alcohol use on the brain, and sex-
differentiating psychosocial factors (e.g., depression symptoms) will be considered in analyses. With the
additional longitudinal data provided by this renewal, we will determine the effects of alcohol exposure on the
developmental trajectory of the human brain, and identify preexisting psychobiological vulnerabilities and
resiliencies that may alter adolescents' and young adults' risk for alcohol or other substance use disorder and
other mental health and developmental outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9969067
- **Project number:** 5U01AA021696-09
- **Recipient organization:** SRI INTERNATIONAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Fiona C Baker
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $763,223
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-09-05 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9969067

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9969067, NCANDA Research Project Site: SRI (5U01AA021696-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9969067. Licensed CC0.

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