During the past five years, the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders (CNND) has become a distinguished research center, seeking answers for such disorders as Alzheimer’s disease, HIV-1 dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
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Front row: Howard Gendelman, M.D., with Toby Behar, Ph.D., left, and Etty Nadia Benveniste, Ph.D. Back row: Richard J. Miller, Ph.D., Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., and William Hickey, M.D. |
Last week, campus leaders, as well as external advisers and an official from the National Institutes of Health, celebrated the accomplishments of the CNND, which evolved from UNMC’s Laboratory of Viral Pathogenesis. The distinguished group took part in a symposium, a critical review of the center’s research and a dinner.
“The CNND is something you all should be proud of,” said William Hickey, M.D., senior associate dean for academic affairs at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. “It really is a center of excellence not only for Nebraska, but for the country. After five years CNND has a wonderful track record in (vision, innovation and discovery). It’s a winner.”
CNND Director Howard E. Gendelman, M.D., David T. Purtilo Distinguished Chair of Pathology and Microbiology, began his work at UNMC in early 1993 as chief of the Laboratory of Viral Pathogenesis, a small research lab with two technicians and a single support staff person. In 1997, the laboratory became a center with 19 researchers and one support staff person. Today, the CNND supports 77 positions, including nine faculty, 54 technicians, two graduate students, nine summer interns and four support staff persons.
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Anuja Ghorpade, Ph.D., left, talks with Etty Nadia Benveniste, Ph.D. |
“The CNND has really evolved quite rapidly in our first five years,” Dr. Gendelman said. “We are grateful for all the support we have received at UNMC.”
Among their milestones:
- Total yearly research dollars went from $900,000 in 1997 to $4.8 million in 2002.
- Together with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University, the CNND acquired the first Center for Research Excellence Award (COBRE), the largest federal grant ever awarded in Nebraska for biomedical research
- Under the leadership of Anuja Ghorpade, Ph.D., established a core facility for rapid autopsy allowing for isolation and culture of adult neural cells;
- Under the leadership of Kim Carlson, Ph.D., established a core facility in proteomics permitting genetic testing of clinical samples for diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic interventions;
- Established a comprehensive brain bank at UNMC for neurodegenerative diseases
- Under the leadership of Michael Boska, Ph.D., established a comprehensive small animal model imaging facility. This facility is one of the first worldwide that permits co-registration of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy for studies of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
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UNMC’s Kim Carlson, Ph.D., discusses a research project with Toby Behar, Ph.D. |
“Research to me is the underpinning of education and health care,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “A strong research program means you have strong patient care and leading edge educational programs. Neurosciences is absolutely one of the highest science endeavors that we can do as a medical center and we hope that with the resources we are trying to build, the talent we are trying to recruit and the talent Howie has developed that neuroscience will be a shining example of what you can do at the medical center.”
Besides Dr. Hickey, other symposium presenters were:
- Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Neuroscience and Aging Center at the Burnham Institute and professor at the Salk Institute/Scripps Research Institute at the University of California at San Diego.
- Toby Behar, Ph.D., is a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health.
- Etty Nadia Benveniste, Ph.D., is chair of the department of cell biology at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, Ala.
- Richard J. Miller, Ph.D., is professor in the department of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry, Northwestern University.