Mapping Brain Structure and Function in AD

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a resubmission of an Independent Scientist Career Development Award (K02) application ""Mapping Brain Structure and Function in AD", that is designed to strengthen the applicant's understanding of neurodegenerative processes, dementia, and the neuropsychological measures that are used to assess and monitor functional impairment. The K02 activities will enable the candidate to acquire skills in state-of-the-art structural neuroimaging methods, integrate clinical knowledge with quantitative expertise, and develop neuroimaging methods that are more clinically useful. The applicant is Research Associate Professor of Radiology and Biostatistics and Head of PET Methodology, at the University of Pittsburgh. The candidate devotes considerable time to methodology service initiatives and the K02 award would protect critical time for the applicant to acquire new and current research knowledge, support her pursuit of independent novel research, while fostering collaborative research interactions. The applicant's primary research expertise is in the evaluation of novel methods for PET imaging of ligand-binding interactions, blood flow, and glucose metabolism. The candidate's independent research is aimed to: 1) determine a simple and valid PET method for the in vivo assessment of amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) using the amyloid- binding radiotracer, Pittsburgh Compound-B, or PIB (R01 MH070729, 2004-7); and 2) measure blood flow and serotonin neuroreceptor system function in subjects with Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent), with and without concomitant depression (K01 MH001976, 2001-6). The K02 activities will be based upon the amyloid-imaging R01 research and related research conducted in her role as Director of the Imaging, Methodology, and Statistics Core for the amyloid-imaging program project that will extend PIB PET imaging to longitudinal studies and non-AD dementia (P01 AG025204, PI: S. DeKosky, M.D., 2005-10). The K02 activities are consistent with the candidate's long-term goal that is to develop comprehensive neuroimaging methods that can utilize multiple types of intra-subject information (e.g. structural MR, functional PET, behavioral measures) to provide robust outcome measures that are clinically more informative, consistent with the theme of her mentored career development award (K01) that is in its final year.