Title
Neural mechanisms of exercise engagement in advanced CKD
Leaders
Devika Nair MD MSCI (@devika820)
Collaborators
No response
Project description
The goal of this project is to understand why some people more durably engage in high-effort, low-immediate-reward behaviors, such as exercise, while others do not. As a nephrologist and physician-scientist, I am currently conducting a pilot randomized exercise trial among Veterans with non-dialysis, advanced chronic kidney disease, and am beginning to characterize the social, physical, and environmental factors associated with exercise engagement in this population.
What I currently lack is the expertise to explore whether — and how — differences in neurological mechanisms contribute to these engagement behaviors. My own background is in cognitive testing, physical performance assessment, and psychological survey measurement and validation, but I have no experience with neuroimaging. At this hackathon, I am hoping to team up with people who bring neuroimaging and/or computational modeling expertise so that together we can develop an initial framework for investigating the neural mechanisms of exercise engagement, and identify concrete next steps for future research (e.g., a pilot neuroimaging sub-study, an analysis plan, or a grant-ready aim).
Link to project repository/sources
No repository exists yet. This will be a new collaboration, we would welcome help setting up the first GitHub project/repo at the hackathon.
Concerete goals with specific tasks for Brainhack Vanderbilt 2026
I would like to meet other collaborators interested in answering similar questions and perhaps to identify methods and/or an existing dataset to use as pilot data to support answering my overall clinical question in a larger, grant-funded proposal.
Good first issues
-
issue one: identify methodological expertise needed in future collaborators/find future collaborators
-
issue two: identify potential existing data sources that contain neuroimaging data that are linked to behavioral data (either in humans or animals)
Skills
Skills I bring:
- Cognitive testing (design and administration)
- Physical performance assessment in clinical populations
- Psychological survey measurement and validation
- Clinical/nephrology domain expertise, pilot trial data and infrastructure
Skills I'm hoping attendees bring:
- Neuroimaging methods (fMRI and/or EEG) — study design, acquisition, or analysis
- Computational/behavioral modeling of effort-based decision-making (e.g., cost-benefit or reinforcement-learning models)
- Statistics or data science for integrating behavioral, survey, and (future) imaging data
- Grant writing or study design experience is a plus, but not required
Onboarding documentation
A short starter reading list on the neuroscience of effort-based decision-making and exercise engagement:
I will add the pilot trial's protocol summary and any internal measures/survey instruments once the repo is set up.
What will participants learn?
Participants will learn how to develop a scientific question based on knowledge gaps and learn how to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations with the goal of fostering open, team science.
Public data to use
N/A — this project uses our own pilot trial data; no public dataset is planned for the hackathon itself.
Number of collaborators
3+
Credit to collaborators
I will credit new collaborators by including them on any publications that occur as a result of this work and depending on their needs can serve as a future research mentor.
Image
Project Summary
Nephrologist studying why people sustain effortful, low-reward exercise (CKD Veteran RCT). Strong in behavioral measures; seeking neuroimaging expertise.
Type
finding_public_resources
Development status
0_concept_no_content
Topic
systems_neuroscience
Tools
other
Programming language
not_applicable
Modalities
other
Git skills
4_not_applicable
Anything else?
No response
Things to do after the project is submitted and ready to review.
Title
Neural mechanisms of exercise engagement in advanced CKD
Leaders
Devika Nair MD MSCI (@devika820)
Collaborators
No response
Project description
The goal of this project is to understand why some people more durably engage in high-effort, low-immediate-reward behaviors, such as exercise, while others do not. As a nephrologist and physician-scientist, I am currently conducting a pilot randomized exercise trial among Veterans with non-dialysis, advanced chronic kidney disease, and am beginning to characterize the social, physical, and environmental factors associated with exercise engagement in this population.
What I currently lack is the expertise to explore whether — and how — differences in neurological mechanisms contribute to these engagement behaviors. My own background is in cognitive testing, physical performance assessment, and psychological survey measurement and validation, but I have no experience with neuroimaging. At this hackathon, I am hoping to team up with people who bring neuroimaging and/or computational modeling expertise so that together we can develop an initial framework for investigating the neural mechanisms of exercise engagement, and identify concrete next steps for future research (e.g., a pilot neuroimaging sub-study, an analysis plan, or a grant-ready aim).
Link to project repository/sources
No repository exists yet. This will be a new collaboration, we would welcome help setting up the first GitHub project/repo at the hackathon.
Concerete goals with specific tasks for Brainhack Vanderbilt 2026
I would like to meet other collaborators interested in answering similar questions and perhaps to identify methods and/or an existing dataset to use as pilot data to support answering my overall clinical question in a larger, grant-funded proposal.
Good first issues
issue one: identify methodological expertise needed in future collaborators/find future collaborators
issue two: identify potential existing data sources that contain neuroimaging data that are linked to behavioral data (either in humans or animals)
Skills
Skills I bring:
Skills I'm hoping attendees bring:
Onboarding documentation
A short starter reading list on the neuroscience of effort-based decision-making and exercise engagement:
-Dopaminergic mechanisms of individual differences in human effort-based decision-making (J. Neuroscience, 2012)
I will add the pilot trial's protocol summary and any internal measures/survey instruments once the repo is set up.
What will participants learn?
Participants will learn how to develop a scientific question based on knowledge gaps and learn how to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations with the goal of fostering open, team science.
Public data to use
N/A — this project uses our own pilot trial data; no public dataset is planned for the hackathon itself.
Number of collaborators
3+
Credit to collaborators
I will credit new collaborators by including them on any publications that occur as a result of this work and depending on their needs can serve as a future research mentor.
Image
Project Summary
Nephrologist studying why people sustain effortful, low-reward exercise (CKD Veteran RCT). Strong in behavioral measures; seeking neuroimaging expertise.
Type
finding_public_resources
Development status
0_concept_no_content
Topic
systems_neuroscience
Tools
other
Programming language
not_applicable
Modalities
other
Git skills
4_not_applicable
Anything else?
No response
Things to do after the project is submitted and ready to review.
Hi @brainhack-vandy/project-monitors my project is ready!