The NICHD supports and conducts research in the neurosciences, particularly as they affect developing systems and rehabilitation.
Within this context, the Institute has primary responsibility for projects related to maternal and child health and human development, reproduction, developmental biology, clinical nutrition, perinatal and infant morbidity and mortality, intellectual and developmental disabilities, pediatric and maternal HIV/AIDS, and medical rehabilitation.
NICHD-supported research involving neuroscience includes molecular, genetic, cellular, systems, and behavioral studies at the basic, translational, and clinical levels. In particular, the NICHD supports neuroscience-related research on:
- Infant and child nervous system development
- Intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Drugs for neuropharmacological and psychopharmacological treatment of children and of women during pregnancy
- Neurologic and psychiatric complications of HIV/AIDS in women and children
- Maternal neurologic and psychiatric health and their effects on pregnancy and infant outcomes as well as fetal and infant neurologic health
- Neuroendocrine control of reproduction and fertility
- Rehabilitation and management of chronically injured nervous and musculoskeletal systems
For more information about the types of neuroscience research that the Institute conducts through its Division of Intramural Research, visit
http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov.