Areas in red indicate mouse brain cells coated with myelin, a crucial substance lacking in patients with M.S.
A diverse group of scientists -- experts in cardiology, neurology, immunology, microbiology and chemistry -- are teaming up to study drugs that show promise in the treatment of dementia for the treatment of an equally debilitating disease -- heart failure. In this case, the connection between the head and the heart lies in a particular enzyme that they believe plays a role in the development of both conditions.
The team, headed by Burns C. Blaxall, Ph.D., Harris A. "Handy" Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephen Dewhurst, Ph.D., recently won the largest grant awarded to date by the University's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) -- $250,000 over two years. The grant, part of the CTSI's newly initiated Incubator Program, is larger than most awarded by the Medical Center.
Thomas Pearson, M.D., Ph.D., who heads the CTSI and helped develop the new program, says tremendous weight was given to forming new teams that had never worked together before, and for these teams to study things they had never addressed before. The Blaxall/Gelbard/Dewhurst team fit the bill on both counts.