Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in Nebraska, and the state has the highest rates of Parkinson’s, per resident, in the United States. Combined with the increasing number of elderly in the state, it’s easy to see that the need for improved diagnostics and targeted therapies to combat these and other deadly brain diseases is paramount.
A proposal to establish two new centers dedicated to finding new ways of treating neurodegenerative disease at UNMC was approved Friday by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
The Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders and the Center for Integrative and Translational Neuroscience will explore the causes of these diseases, improving diagnostics and potential drug therapies.
The Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders evolved from the former Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders, established in 1997 under the leadership of Howard Gendelman, M.D., director of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience.
“To think that we have evolved from a small laboratory to a center then to a department and have given birth to now others with broad leadership, national prominence, and sustained federal funding is simply a dream realized,” Dr. Gendelman said. “This is just the beginning. It is our ultimate destination to establish a Mind-Brain Institute. With an evolving reputation in neuropathogenesis, neuronanomedicine, molecular neuroscience, and neuroproteomics we are together poised to do great things in the hopes of someday winning the battle over these devastating neurodegenerative disorders.”
Dr. Gendelman said this can be achieved with focused centers and their abilities to change emphasis based on need, work with evolving companies, and bridge clinical partnerships.
The Center for Integrative and Translational Neuroscience is the link between basic science discoveries and translational implementation in the clinic.
“It is our vision to make UNMC a world leader in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases,” Dr. Gendelman said. “We can do this more easily with multiple, well focused centers that have the abilities to change the emphasis of their research programs with time, work with multiple new companies as appropriate and bridge our basic and clinical patient care initiatives.”
Both centers were built from major research gains in neuroscience made at UNMC.
“The Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders will include faculty from virtually all basic and clinical departments. The goal of the center is to provide a vehicle for stimulating and supporting interdepartmental laboratory and translational research in neurodegenerative disorders,” said Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor and vice chair for research in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience and the director of the center.
He said the center will enhance the research infrastructure, provide an administrative home for interdepartmental graduate and postdoctoral training and be a conduit between the academic and private sectors.
The Center for Integrative and Translational Neuroscience, will be directed by Howard Fox, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience. It will focus on translational medicine, taking the fruits of neurodegenerative research from the bench to the bedside.
This center brings together basic research faculty with clinicians in neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, radiology, medicine and surgery, in order to rapidly move new discoveries out of the lab and into the clinic, Dr. Fox said.
“Neuroscience is now at the stage where we can move our laboratory findings up through molecular, cell culture and animal models to people, so we can alleviate the burden of these neurodegenerative illnesses as soon as possible,” Dr. Fox said. “Advances in technology now allow us to diagnose diseases of the brain earlier and more exactly. It is at these early stages that treatments would likely be most effective.”
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,600 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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