RFU Neuroscientist Wins $2.3M NIH Grant to Study Teen Brain Isolation Effects
North Chicago, Illinois – September 24, 2026 -- Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFU) neuroscientist Nicole Ferrara, PhD, has secured a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate how social disruptions, including COVID-19 lockdowns, alter brain development in adolescents.
NIH funds five-year study on amygdala development and social behavior
The project, titled "Social Experience Guides BMA Mediated Social Development," will examine how the basomedial amygdala (BMA) responds to restricted or inconsistent social contact during adolescence and young adulthood. Dr. Ferrara's preliminary data indicate the BMA functions differently during teen and young adult years compared with other brain regions, making it potentially more vulnerable to social disruption.