2012 Neurodegenerative Disease Pilot Study Grant Program

The MGH Neurology Clinical Trials Unit, Massachusetts ADRC, and Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center joined forces to fund the best novel ideas for innovative pilot projects aimed at understanding and developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Forty four applications were received by the November 18th deadline. Applications were judged on the basis of scientific merit, novelty and the value of the project in obtaining preliminary data that could lead to sponsored research (investigator-initiated R01 research grants, career development awards, industry or foundation support).

We are pleased to announce the following 11 proposals selected for funding by the review committee.

2012 Pilot Studies

Katherina Cosker (DFCI) — A role for Bclw in neurotrophin-dependent prevention of axonal degeneration

Brian Wainger (CHB) — Electrophysiological characterization of ALS patient-derived motor neurons

Jacob Hooker (MGH) — Combined FDG-PET and MRI in early ALS

David Livingstone (DFCI) — Is excessive R loop-driven DNA damage a component of ALS pathogenesis?

Teresia Osborn (McL) — Preclinical studies of guanine deaminase as a protector of ALS-related motor neuron death

Shaomin Li (BWH) — Enriched environment prevents AB-impaired LTP viathe B-adrenoceptor signaling pathway

Gabriel Corfas (CHB) — Exploring the links between AD and ErbB4 nuclear signaling

Elizabeth Bradshaw (BWH) — Functional significance of CD33 surface density and its implications for AD susceptibility

Christopher William (MGH) — Synaptic plasticity in Down Syndrome

Tim Bartels (BWH) — Impact of N-terminal acetylation on folding and lipid interaction of alpha-synuclein

Robert Ellis (BIDMC) — Neural mechanisms of motor timing in PD 

2011 Pilot Studies

Of the 40 applications received, the review committee selected the following six winners:

Min Liu (BWH) — Understanding the Mechanism of Regulating LRRK2 Functions

Pamela McLean (MGH) — Alpha-Synuclein in Exosomes from Human CSF and Brain in Parkinson's

Nazem Atassi (MGH) — Mechanism-Based Neuroimaging in ALS

Tracy Young-Pearse (BWH) — Patient-derived iPSCs to Address Mechanisms of Alzheimers Disease

Joshua Shulman (BWH) — Functional Validation of Alzheimer's Genome-wide Association Signals

John Becker (MGH) — Longitudinal Modeling of Dynamic Biomarkers of the AD Pathologic Cascade

2010 Pilot Studies

Ciprian Catana (MGH) — Identification of Potential Compensatory Mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease by Accurate Structure-Function Inter-Relation Using Simultaneous MR-PET Technology

M. Teresa Gomez-Isla (MGH) — Are Some Human Brains Able to Tolerate the Insult of Aß?

Min Jeong Kye (CHB) — Exploring the Role of SMN in miRNA in Axons

Catherine Stamoulis (BIDMC) — Detection of Copy Number Changes in DNA of Patients with Sporadic ALS

Jaehong Suh (MGH) — Transgenic Mouse Study of Novel ADAM10 Mutations in Alzheimer's Disease

Martin Can Zhang (MGH) — Characterizing a Novel AD GWAS Gene: ATXN1

2009 Pilot Studies

Of the 29 applications received, the review committee selected the following seven winners:

Sydney S. Cash (MGH) — Subclinical Paroxysmal EEG Abnormalities in Alzheimer’s Disease

David Greer (MGH) — Effect of Cerebral Hypoperfusion on B-Amyloid Deposition

Guo-Fu Hu (HMS) — Stress-Induced Small RNAs in Neuron Survival

Nikolaus McFarland (MGH) — Examination of Brain Urate Metabolites in Neurodegenerative Disease

Scott McGinnis (MGH) — Application of Ultrahigh Resolution MRI to Develop Imaging Biomarkers in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Jacob Sloane (BIDMC) — Identifying Proteins Associated with Impaired Remyelination and with Cortical Lesions in Multiple Sclerosis

Ottavio Vitolo (HMS) — Memory Network Dysfunction in Patients with Late Life Depression

Spring — 2008

Mark Albers (MGH) — Is the map of axon projections from human olfactory sensory neurons into the olfactory bulb disrupted in AD patients?

Paola Arlotta (MGH) — Induction of corticospinal motor neuron specifications by cell-autonomous transcription factor signaling

Susan Cotman (MGH) — Investigating accumulation of themitochondrial atpase subunit c protein as a marker for autophagydysfunction in neurodegenerative disease

Stefanie Freeman (MGH) - Pathologic phenotypes of Alzheimer's disease

Sang-Jun Jeon (MEEI) - Small molecules for regeneration of hair cells

Volney Sheen (BIDMC) — Mitochondrial dysfunction from astroglial S100B in human DS neural progenitors

Kai Sonntag (McLean) — Regulation of gene expression in dopamine neurons by miRNAs

Anand Viswanathan (MGH) — Cortical morphological consequences of subcortical vascular pathology in cerebral amyloid angiopathy

Spring — 2007

Christopher Gibbons (Roy Freeman) (BIDMC) — A human model of autonomic nerve fiber degeneration and regeneration

Steven Hersch (MGH) — Surrogate marker of therapeutic response in Huntington’s disease

Fuxin Shi (Albert Edge) (MEEI) — Replacement of auditory neurons to enhance the function of a cochlear implan

Olivia Okereke (Deborah Blacker) (MGH) — Pilot study for development of a shortened clinical dementia rating questionnaire

Daniel Press (BIDMC) — Genotype-phenotype relations underlying cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease

Eric Smith (MGH) — Pittsburgh compound-B imaging and subcortical small vessel damage

Spring — 2006

Brandon Ally (BWH) — P50 as a measure of cholinergic response in Alzheimer's disease

Phil de Jager (BWH) — Developing an immunoprofile into a diagnostic tool for multiple sclerosis

Allitia DiBernardo (MGH) — Open-label, dose-escalating clinical trial of high-dose creatine in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Florian Eichler (MGH) — Immunomodulatory therapy in X-linked adrenolukodystrophy

Stephen Gomperts (MGH) — Alpha-synuclein measurement and molecular imaging in Parkinson's disease dementia

Christopher Holland (BWH) — Evaluating continuous arterial spinlabeling in the investigation of the role of perfusion in the evolutionand repair of white matter lesions in multiple sclerosis

Lisa Krivickas (Spaulding) — Motor unit behavior in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 

Spring — 2005

James Beck, MD, PhD (Mass Mental Health Hospital) — Neuregulin 1 and Schizophrenia Phenotype

Joan Camprodon, MD (BIDMC) — Stroke Repair and NeglectRecovery:  An fMRI Study Assessing Physiopathologic Mechanisms and TMSApplications for Rehabilitation Therapy

Michael Irizarry, MD (MGH) — High Dose Multivitamin Treatment: Effect on Plasma A-Beta and White Matter Lesions in the VISP study

Rachel Nardin, MD (BIDMC) — Diaphragm Training in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

David Wolk, MD (BWH) — ERP Correlates of Encoding and Retrieval in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease

Spring — 2004

Paolo Bonato, PhD (Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital) — Enhancing DBS parameter adjustment through measures of motor response

Andrew Budson, MD (BWH) — Using false recognition as an outcome measure for clinical trials

Gregory Esper, MD (BIDMC) — Assessment of neuromuscular disease using multifrequency-dependent electrical impedance myography

Dominik Meier, PhD (BWH) — Capturing short term disease activity in MS

Magdy Selim, MD, PhD (BIDMC) — A pilot study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of iron chelator, deferoxamine, in elderly stroke patients