Will facilitate research, faculty recruitment while improving patient care
In an effort to better serve people with developmental and degenerative diseases of the nervous system, University of Nebraska Medical Center physicians, allied health practitioners and scientists have formed the Nebraska Neuroscience Alliance.
The NNA will unite three of UNMC’s top neuroscience programs – the departments of neurological sciences and pharmacology and experimental neuroscience as well as the Munroe-Meyer Institute – to:
· Facilitate cooperative research activities;
· Enhance recruitment and retention of UNMC physicians and scientists; and
· Develop novel, state-of-the-art patient diagnostics and therapeutics.
The NNA will target neurodevelopment and disorders of cognition and movement. These include the spectrum of brain, nerve and spinal cord diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, autism, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, microbial infections, stroke and genetic disease.
“One of the major attractions for me coming to Nebraska was the ‘can do’ team spirit,” said Bradley Britigan, M.D., who started July 1 as the new dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “Over the years, the progress being made in the neurosciences has been incredible. This alliance will bring together experts in research and clinical care with the shared goal of moving breakthroughs made in the laboratory to the patient bedside.
“It will elevate our neurological programs to a whole new level. There’s no reason anybody with a neurological disorder should ever have to leave the state for their medical care.”
The three architects of the NNA are: Howard Gendelman, M.D., chairman of the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience; Daniel Murman, M.D., interim chairman of the department of neurological sciences; and J. Michael Leibowitz, Ph.D., director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
Dr. Leibowitz said some of the directives that are encompassed in the NNA include:
· Personalized medicine – developing specific treatments tailored to individuals;
· Immunization-based nerve cell repair;
· Tissue and cell specific drug delivery;
· Nanomedicine;
· Brain regeneration; and
· Biomarker discovery and diagnostics.
“The diseases are different, but the journey is the same,” Dr. Gendelman said. “Translational research will heighten the impact of our discoveries and move them into human use much faster. It also will create more awareness in the community and allow us to more effectively raise funds to better meet the growing and changing needs of our medical center and our patients.”
With the population aging, the number of people incurring neurological problems such as epilepsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disease and neurodegenerative diseases is expected to increase dramatically, Dr. Murman said.
Through world-class research and patient care, UNMC generates breakthroughs that make life better for people throughout Nebraska and beyond. Its education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in the state. Learn more at unmc.edu.