Led by E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, the Neurosciences Signature Program involves research from multiple disciplines, including neurological surgery, neurology, neurosciences, molecular neurobiology, pharmacology, psychiatry, psychology, ENT (ear, nose and throat), the Center for Brain and Spine Injury, and others. The Neurosciences clinical program encompasses neuro-oncology/skull base, spine trauma, stroke/cerebrovascular, neuromuscular/multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders/dementia, and neuromodulation.
Clinical research within this program occurs in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, the Dardinger Laboratory for Neuro-Oncology and Neuroscience Research, and in the departments of Neurology, Neurological Surgery, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as in the School of Allied Medical Professions. Basic research is conducted in the Neurobiology of Disease Institute, the Center for Molecular Neurobiology, the Department of Neuroscience, the Department of Pharmacology and in the Division of Neuropathology.
Neurosciences Signature Program highlights of 2007
- E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, received the 2007 Investigator’s Award in Clinical Translation of Gene Therapy for Cancer from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. The award includes a five-year, $1 million grant for a study titled Development of an Oncolytic Virus with Pro-Drug-Activating Gene Therapy.”
- The Department of Psychiatry established and staffed a Clinical Trials Office (CTO) to provide centralized resources for psychiatric clinical trials. The CTO has 3.5 dedicated FTEs who work with principal investigators of each clinical trial to ensure compliance to protocol-specific procedures.
- Clinical research is conducted by the departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory and the Dardinger Laboratory for Neuro-Oncology and Neurosciences. Basic research is conducted by the Department of Neuroscience in the Neurobiology of Disease Institute and the Center for Molecular Biology. Collectively, the departments of Neurological Surgery, Neurology and Psychiatry were engaged in 131 clinical trials as of December 2007.
- Balveen Kaur, PhD, received a $360,938 grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for her research project titled, “Oncolytic HSV Cancer Therapy: Enhancement by Vasculostatin Gene Therapy.”
- Yoshinaga Saeki, MD, PhD, received a $371,250 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to support a research project titled “HSV Amplicon Vectors for Neuroscience Research.”
- Phillip Popovich, PhD, received $250,000 from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation for a project titled “Improving Axon Regeneration with Activated Macrophages.”
- Dana McTigue, PhD, received $75,000 from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for a project titled “PPAR Agonist Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury.”
- The Department of Neurology research effort regarding clinical trials in stroke is very strong, and the Department’s stroke program was recertified by the Joint Commission, which credited it for “compliance with consensus-based national standards; effective use of established clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care; and performance measurement and improvement activities.”