The COBRE Center for Neuromodulation (CCN) will be centered at Butler Hospital, a freestanding psychiatric and neuropsychiatric hospital affiliated with the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. This COBRE will create key infrastructure and support a core group of interdisciplinary investigators to build a self-sustaining center of excellence in clinical-translational brain research. Its overall goal is to advance the use of noninvasive neuromodulation in circuit-based therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders. This application brings together three highly promising junior investigators, who will use methods of noninvasive brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic and transcranial electrical stimulation) and neuroimaging tools (structural and functional MRI). They will work together on clinical-translational research on brain circuits relating to symptoms and dimensions of illness. Their areas of interest are impulsive behavior, PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Using experienced, highly skilled mentors working within the structure of an Administrative Core, the CCN will advance the careers of these talented young researchers towards the next level of research independence. The CCN will support two new research cores: the Design and Analysis Core (DAC) and the Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation Core (NNC) at Butler Hospital. These cores will provide essential infrastructure needed to successfully carry out each project. This includes statistical and methodological consultation and expertise needed to design and analyze the studies proposed (DAC), and equipment, technical support, and expertise necessary for stimulation implementation and acquisition of neuroimaging data (NNC). The Administrative Core will also support pilot grants relating to our theme of translational research in neural circuits and disease. These grants will be awarded yearly in years 2 to 5 of the Center. The CCN will establish Butler Hospital as a national leader in this exciting field of translational medicine, which will expand research and clinical application of noninvasive brain stimulation across disorders of brain and behavior. It will unify an interdisciplinary community in clinical-translational research of neuropsychiatric illness, for the ultimate benefit of patients.
The COBRE Center for Neuromodulation (CCN) at Butler Hospital will address the pressing need for novel treatments for people struggling with neuropsychiatric disease, by understanding and testing methods to change the functioning of brain circuits underlying such illnesses. It will nurture the careers of exceptional young researchers by providing them, and others, the infrastructure and expertise in administering brain stimulation and in assessing its effects via measuring and modeling brain activity. The CCN will provide the platform these Project Leaders and other early-career researchers need to make important discoveries and transform them into better treatments for patients.
