Dr. Howard Gendelman Receives Prestigious Javits Investigator
Award from the National Institutes of Health
Howard Gendelman, M.D., an internationally renown neuroscientist at
the University of Nebraska Medical Center, has received the Jacob Javits
Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a division of the National Institutes of
Health.
The Javits Award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by the NINDS
in support of biomedical research on the brain and is awarded to only the
most outstanding neuroscientists in the country. It will provide approximately
$3 million in funding in support of Dr. Gendelmans research over the next
seven years. The award is made in two segments an initial four-year award
with an additional three years of support after internal administrative
review.
The Javits Award is a tremendous honor. Dr. Gendelman is very productive
and is viewed as a leader in his area of expertise, said Al Kerza-Kwiatecki,
Ph.D., program director for infectious diseases of the nervous system at
the NINDS.
I think the Javits Award sends a strong message that UNMC is making
impressive strides in its research efforts on neurodegenerative disorders,
said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor. It is among the best in
the nation, and we are very proud of this accomplishment. The fact that
a large portion of the proposed work will come from alternative sources
other than fetal cells demonstrates the commitment and progress made by
our scientists.
The criteria for the Javits Award is that it is given to distinguished
investigators who have a record of substantial contribution on the cutting
edge of neurological sciences and who can be expected to be highly productive
for a seven-year period.
Dr. Gendelman was recognized for his many discoveries in brain research,
notably how the brains immune system works in normal circumstances and
how it becomes altered during neurodegenerative disorders such as AIDS-related
dementia and Alzheimers disease. Dr. Gendelman has developed novel therapeutic
efforts based on improving normal brain function in disease and reversing
brain cell injury during disease. The research looks at how immune cells
get into the brain from blood, effect brain function and the means to reverse
the process.
The NINDS Advisory Council, which bestowed the Javits Award on Dr. Gendelman,
was especially enthusiastic about his breadth of scientific disciplines
and discoveries. Eight distinct approaches for studying the brain,
in health and disease, are used in Dr. Gendelmans research, including
cell lines, tissue culture methods, animal model systems and, most important,
cells obtained from rapid brain autopsies.
The use of fetal cells from elective abortions by the UNMC Center for
Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Diseases (CNND) has been the focus
of a statewide controversy the past 16 months. This is the first public
health service funding that the Gendelman team has received in which rapid
autopsies are used to address important scientific questions involving
the brain.
The review panel was particularly enthusiastic about such approaches,
calling the research outstanding and stating that the outcome is likely
to be of immense importance. It further stated: The unique nature of
this experimental approach and the track record of the investigator suggest
that the proposal be viewed favorably.
Dr. Gendelmans grant received an extraordinarily high score, ranking
in the top 1 percent of all grants reviewed by this national committee.
Hes continuously very innovative in his grant applications and consistently
scores very high on his scientific merits, said Dr. Kerza-Kwiatecki. It
puts a stamp of approval that we trust the quality of his research enough
that we believe he will continue to be productive over the next seven years.
Thats quite a benefit to give a scientist this kind of vote of confidence,
as its very time consuming to make scientists submit new documentation
every couple years so their progress can be monitored.
Dr. Gendelmans center is doing everything possible to try to find
alternative sources, said Samuel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman
of the Department of Pathology and Microbiology. A ban on fetal cell research
would prevent the continuance of this research in Nebraska and would be
a devastating loss to the university and to the Nebraska patients and students
that we serve. This research holds tremendous promise for advancing treatments
against neurodegenerative disorders.
The rapid brain autopsy program, one important focus of this work, was
developed last year by UNMC as a possible mechanism for procuring the three
types of brain cells used in UNMCs research into neurodestructive diseases
such as Alzheimers disease and AIDS-related dementia. For the cells obtained
from a rapid brain autopsy to be suitable for research, the autopsy must
be performed within two hours of a persons death.
Astrocytes, microglia and neurons make up the three types of cells needed
for UNMCs research into neurodegenerative diseases. Astrocytes and microglia
are the support cells for neurons and constitute the brain tissue. Neurons
are the most critical cells for brain function. They work to receive and
send out electrical signals throughout the body and are instrumental for
normal thinking and motor function.
Dr. Gendelmans research team has been successful in obtaining astrocytes
and microglia from rapid autopsies. Only a handful of institutions in the
world have ever been able to successfully isolate cells from rapid autopsies,
and no institution has been able to recover mature neurons from the rapid
autopsy procedure. UNMC has committed more than $400,000 to this program.
This award is a terrific milestone and is shared among all our scientists,
said Dr. Gendelman, the David T. Purtilo Distinguished Professor of Pathology
and Microbiology and director of the CNND. It is a great testament to
the support of UNMC and the citizens of Nebraska for our research.
The Javits Award is named in honor of the late Sen. Jacob Javits (R-NY),
who was a victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative neurological
disorder also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Sen. Javits was a strong advocate
for support of research in a wide variety of disorders of the brain and
nervous system.
This marks the second major award received by Dr. Gendelman in the past
year. Last March, he was named a J. William Fulbright Research Scholar,
the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Fulbright Program.
As a Fulbright Research Scholar, Dr. Gendelman served as a scientific
ambassador for the United States, studying nerve regeneration for eight
months at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. The Weizmann Institute
is considered one of the leading centers in the world in neurosciences
research especially investigation into how nerve cell damage in the spinal
cord and brain can be regenerated.