This application, responding to RFA-OD-09-005 Recovery Act Limited Competition: Core Centers for Enhancing Research Capacity in U.S. Academic Institutions, proposes to recruit and support two new Assistant Professor Faculty to the Massachusetts Alzheimer Disease Research Center/ (ADRC) Mass General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. The recruited faculty will either be a clinician scientist or a PhD scientist, and focus on translational aspects of the basic science programs. They will participate in activities and take advantage of resources of the ADRC, MIND, the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School-wide Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center. This request is to provide resources to fill a position focused on neuroplasticity, recognizing the marked advances that have taken place in the context of developmental biology and the technical advances that have made possible monitoring and manipulating axonal and dendritic structure and function in the mature nervous system. The second position is aimed at a better understanding of Brain aging, in the absence of neurodegenerative disease, motivated in part by the recognition that aging is the single greatest risk factor for neurodegeneration, and in part by the still mysterious underlying biology that leads to subtle impairments in cognitive function with age, even in the absence of neurodegenerative changes. Both programs of research complement existing basic science and clinical programs ongoing at the Massachusetts General Hospital and MIND, including substantial depth in related studies at Harvard Medical School and across the Harvard campuses. Senior members of the Harvard faculty will serve as a Selection committee and as a Mentoring committee, and a detailed 4 year program to support the new faculty recruits has been outlined including formal mentoring, review of project designs, and continued financial support. The candidates will be encouraged to design independent research programs that take advantage of, and complement, existing infrastructure in clinical and research projects, and thus enhance the research capacity of the ADRC/MIND Center.
We plan to use Recovery Act funds to jump start the recruitment and hiring of two new young faculty, whose missions will be to complement the extensive ongoing research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the areas of brain response to neurodegenerative disease induced injury (neuroplasticity) and """"""""normal"""""""" brain aging.
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