The long-term goal of the Morehouse School of Medicine Neuroscience Institute is to create a challenging environment in which to study the functional organization of the nervous system and to address health-related questions with the aim of reducing the health disparities that currently exists in select populations. The present application requests funds to support three young investigators and one previously funded investigator. (a) Dr. Chiaki Fukuhara proposes to identify the signaling cascades that respond to norepinephrine stimulation that underlie circadian rhythm in pineal cells. (b) Dr. Byron Ford is investigating the possible role that neuregulin plays in protecting neurons during ischemia brain injury. (c) Dr. Ernest Steele proposes to characterize the alphal subunit isoforms of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel in primate retina. (d) Dr. Joseph Whittaker proposes to characterize the electrical response and calcium dynamics in dopamine cells of the substantia nigra in response to muscarinic receptor stimulation. Several health-related areas of investigation will be addressed by these studies. They include stroke and ischemic brain injury; Parkinson's disease; circadian rhythm disturbances; and visual disorders arising from retinal channelopathies. It is anticipated that the current applicants will apply, and receive, funding at the R01 level during the next funding cycle and set the stage for developing an application for program-project type grants.
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