Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Neural Representations of Space

Project Principal Investigator/s:
Dr. Derek Hamilton and Dr. Ben Clark

Funding Agency:
NIH - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Amount Awarded:
$397,687

Period of Performance:
01/2017 - 12/2018

Goals and Aims of Study

This research seeks to better understand how exposure to alcohol during prenatal development affects the function of individual neurons in brain regions critical for memory.

How this Research Will Benefit Society

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are a major public health problem with an incidence of 1-5% in the USA and associated annual costs in excess of $4 billion. The negative consequences of exposure to alcohol during prenatal brain development include lifelong deficits in memory. Improvements in our understanding of how prenatal alcohol exposure affects the brain are needed to inform approaches to treatments.