Major depressive disorder (MOD) is the fourth leading causes of morbidity and mortality world-wide, withwomen having twice the incidence than men. Thus, understanding sex differences in MOD will haveimportant implications for public health and development of sex-specific treatment strategies to alleviatedisability and ultimately for prevention. We are proposing a translational SCOR to integrate scientists frombasic, clinical neuroscience and population-level perspectives to address the question of why women are athigher risk for MOD than men. An underlying premise is that sex differences in MOD are initiated during fetaldevelopment. We propose a unique design in which we will integrate findings from three studies (human invivoand two animal model studies) to investigate hypotheses regarding how adverse maternal-fetalhypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) programming during mid-gestation and genetic polymorphisms willdisrupt normal HPA circuitry development in the context of the sexual differentiation of the brain and therebyhave important implications for understanding the vulnerability for sex differences in MOD in adult brainabnormalities and endocrine dysfunction. To accomplish the integration of our diverse group of investigators,the Administrative Core will provide an infrastructure to accomplish our goals, under the direction of the PI,Co-Pi and administrative staff.
The aims of this Core are the following: 1) To coordinate the activities of theSCOR, e.g. provide logistical support, such as setting up meetings and conference calls, monitoring ongoingoperational issues, and maintaining connections with the Scientific Advisory Board; 2) To administerbudgets, e.g. monitor financial expenditures and insure fiscal responsibilities; 3) To disseminate knowledge,e.g. coordinate publications, develop a website, organize conferences, publicize opportunities for trainees.The SCOR provides an excellent mechanism for the proposed projects, since they are a set of inextricablylinked interdisciplinary studies focused on the identification of mechanisms involved in understanding sexdifferences in MDD. Given the complexities of conducting cross-institution and cross-discipline studies, it isimportant to have an administrative infrastructure to 'bind' and monitor ongoing activities, provide fiscaladministration for the SCOR as a whole, and be a vehicle for dissemination of knowledge resulting from theSCOR to the scientific and medical communities, policy makers, and the public.
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