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Nurture Science Program

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The Nurture Science Program (NSP) at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary program that investigates the biological mechanism (biology) that underlies nurture by testing the efficacy of interventions for families. The clinical research mission of the program is: “to make it possible for nurture-based therapies to become widely utilized and accepted to benefit children and families throughout the US and the world." Currently, the program is directed by Martha G. Welch, MD and co-directed by Michael M. Myers, PhD. According to the Nurture Science Program website, the ultimate NSP goal is to develop and disseminate effective intervention strategies for families to establish and maintain emotional connection in the home.

Contents

History

The Nurture Science Program evolved from the BrainGut Initiative at the Columbia University Medical Center. The BrainGut Initiative explored the effects and mechanisms of peptides related to nurture using basic research. The NSP has expanded on the research conducted in the BrainGut Initiative, and now conducts clinical trials in infants aged 0 to 5.

Goals

As reported by the NSP website, the goals of the program are:

  1. Reveal the mechanisms that account for the healing power of nurture and develop a new generation of biological-based behavioral therapies that provide families with effective treatment strategies.
  2. Develop and test nurture-based interventions in infants and children and their families through age five.
  3. Explore the complex biology of mother/infant and family nurture using multiple scientific disciplines and innovative methods.
  4. Establish new collaborations in order to answer questions about human nurture in the most rigorous scientific terms.
  5. Provide scientific explanations for the powerful immediate and long-term developmental effects of nurture in rodents and humans, from the molecular to the interdyadic.
  6. Educate and train the next generation of therapists and nurture scientists.
  7. Inform the public about nurture science research findings and explain their implications for all families and children.

NSP Researchers

Martha G. Welch, MD, is Director of the Nurture Science Program. Dr. Welch is a board certified psychiatrist, and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia University. She has directed the Brain-Gut Initiative (BGI) for ten years and the Nurture Science Program since its conception in 2012.

Michael M. Myers, PhD, is Co-Director of the Nurture Science Program. Dr. Myers is a Professor of Behavioral Biology in Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, and Chief of the Division of Developmental Neuroscience at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Michael D. Gershon is Co-Director of the BrainGut Initiative. Dr. Gershon is Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia University Medical Center.

Benjamin Klein is a molecular biologist in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Dr. Klein heads molecular biology research on signaling pathways of oxytocin in gut cells.

Dr. Amie Hane is a developmental psychologist, and the Director of Behavioral Coding for the Nurture Science Program. Dr. Hane is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Williams College in the Psychology, Neuroscience, and Public Health Programs.

Location

The Nurture Science Program is located at Columbia University on the Columbia University Medical Campus.

Select Publications

  1. Welch, M.G. (2016). Calming Cycle theory: The role of visceral/autonomic learning in early mother and infant/child behavior and development. Acta Paediatrica, 105(11), 1266-1274.
  2. Hane, A. A., Myers, M. M., Hofer, M. A., Ludwig, R. J., Halperin, M. S., Austin, J., ... & Welch, M. G. (2015). Family Nurture Intervention Improves the Quality of Maternal Caregiving in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 36(3), 188-196.[1]
  3. Welch, M. G., Hofer, M. A., Brunelli, S. A., Stark, R. I., Andrews, H. F., Austin, J., & Myers, M. M. (2012). Family nurture intervention (FNI): methods and treatment protocol of a randomized controlled trial in the NICU. BMC pediatrics, 12(1), 14.[2]
  4. Welch, M. G., Hofer, M. A., Stark, R. I., Andrews, H. F., Austin, J., Glickstein, S. B., ... & Myers, M. M. (2013). Randomized controlled trial of Family Nurture Intervention in the NICU: assessments of length of stay, feasibility and safety. BMC pediatrics, 13(1), 148.[3]
  5. Welch, M. G., Myers, M. M., Grieve, P. G., Isler, J. R., Fifer, W. P., Sahni, R., ... & FNI Trial Group. (2014). Electroencephalographic activity of preterm infants is increased by Family Nurture Intervention: a randomized controlled trial in the NICU. Clinical Neurophysiology, 125(4), 675-684.[4]
  6. Welch, M. G., Firestein, M. R., Austin, J., Hane, A. A., Stark, R. I., Hofer, M. A., ... & Myers, M. M. (2015). Family Nurture Intervention in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit improves social‐relatedness, attention, and neurodevelopment of preterm infants at 18 months in a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.[5]
  7. Welch, M. G., Halperin, M. S., Austin, J., Stark, R. I., Hofer, M. A., Hane, A. A., & Myers, M. M. (2016). Depression and anxiety symptoms of mothers of preterm infants are decreased at 4 months corrected age with Family Nurture Intervention in the NICU. Archives of women's mental health, 1-11.[6]
  8. Klein, B. Y., Tamir, H., Hirschberg, D. L., Glickstein, S. B., & Welch, M. G. (2013). Oxytocin modulates mTORC1 pathway in the gut. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 432(3), 466-471.[7]
  9. Klein, B. Y., Tamir, H., & Welch, M. G. (2011). PI3K/Akt responses to oxytocin stimulation in Caco2BB gut cells. Journal of cellular biochemistry, 112(11), 3216-3226.[8]
  10. Klein, B. Y., Tamir, H., Hirschberg, D. L., Glickstein, S. B., Ludwig, R. J., & Welch, M. G. (2014). Oxytocin modulates markers of the unfolded protein response in Caco2BB gut cells. Cell Stress and Chaperones, 19(4), 465-477.[9]
  11. Welch, M. G., Margolis, K. G., Li, Z., & Gershon, M. D. (2014). Oxytocin regulates gastrointestinal motility, inflammation, macromolecular permeability, and mucosal maintenance in mice. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 307(8), G848-G862.[10]

Press

Williams College in Massachusetts, research conducted in Dr. Amie Hane’s lab assesses the impact of the Family Nurture Intervention on mothers and infants. [11]

At the 2014 annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C., the FNI team presents the family nurture intervention and its impacts to the audience. [12]

In 2014, Dr. Martha Welch, co-Director of the Nurture Science Program receives the Gold Medal for Meritorious Service from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons Columbia University Department of Psychiatry InPsych, Summer 2014

At the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, Dr. Welch and the NSP team presented information and results from an unpublished article on the Welch Emotional Connection Scale (WECS), an outcome measure of the FNI. [13]

References

Nurture Science Program Wikipedia
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