Research Education Component (REC) Program - Abstract A major research focus of the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center (BU ADC) is the intersection between brain aging, cognitive decline, and the long-term effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is now widely recognized as a significant cause of progressive dementia in professional athletes who have sustained repeated mild TBI. The BU ADC is committed to training the next generation of leaders in clinical, basic, and translational research in neurodegenerative diseases including CTE. To this end, the Research Education Component (REC) will leverage the unique expertise of the BU ADC and affiliated faculty at BU to provide advanced training in clinical, basic, and translational research as it relates to CTE and to common themes of neurodegeneration including the basic mechanisms, as well as their clinical, cognitive, and behavioral sequelae. The scientific and research training of the REC will be focused on: (1) CTE, including its pathology, pathophysiology, risk factors, genetics, biomarkers, clinical symptoms, and behavioral manifestations, and (2) common themes related to neurodegeneration, including how pathology, pathophysiology, risk factors, genetics, biomarkers, clinical symptoms, and behavioral manifestations of CTE compare and contrast to other neurodegenerative diseases such as those that lead to frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, corticobasal syndrome, dementia with Lewy bodies, AD, and others. For example, research topics may include comparing and contrasting the role of tau in various neurodegenerative disorders, and its spread through the brain as one final common pathway. Other research topics may include comparing the pathophysiology and behavioral manifestations of the emotional dysregulation in CTE compared to that of the frontotemporal lobar degenerations. The REC will thus prepare the next generation of clinicians, researchers, and clinician-scientists to treat, understand, and develop new therapies not only for CTE but for the entire spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases in aging.
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