Academic Leadership Award at the Indiana University School of Medicine

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Principal Investigator: Landreth, Gary E Project Summary/Abstract This academic leadership award application is directed at the development of coordinated and comprehensive educational programs in aging, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias at the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). A primary goal is to provide an organizational framework, anchored in the Medical Neurosciences Training Program, to functionally integrate the activities of existing and developing NIA supported resources at the IUSM. The NIA supports the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, the National Cell Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease, the Regenstrief Institute and the Center for Aging Research as well as the recently funded MODEL-AD center and LEADS clinical trial. Finally, Eli Lilly is headquartered in Indianapolis and has a substantial research effort focused on Alzheimer’s disease. These institutions comprise a unique and significant intellectual and infrastructural resource that will be leveraged in the current proposal. The IUSM and the NIA have recently committed substantial institutional resources to develop basic science research efforts on AD and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the success of the investigative effort will be contingent upon provision of a skilled workforce. The present application describes a plan to employ the Medical Neuroscience Training program as a vehicle to enhance and coordinate the research and training activities at the IUSM. The training program will simultaneously enhance and expand the institutional research capacity by providing a talented pool of young investigators to faculty within the individual research centers, and provide a high level training for these individuals. Importantly, the activities of the training program provide a mechanism to promote interactions and collaborations between the faculty and research staff at IUSM and Lilly who work on aging and neurodegenerative diseases. The applicant, Dr. Gary Landreth, was recruited to IUSM to lead the development and restructuring of the Medical Neurosciences Training Program. He brings to this effort 30 years of experience in Alzheimer’s disease research and graduate education. The Specific Aims of the application are:1) To restructure the Medical Neuroscience Training program through a) modernizing the graduate curriculum to provide foundational training in the Neurosciences, aging and neurodegenerative diseases, b) initiation of a postdoctoral training program to promote the professional advancement of this important component of the scientific workforce and c) provide undergraduate research experiences. 2) To employ the Medical Neuroscience Training Program as a vehicle to integrate the activities of the various IUSM centers focused on Aging and Neurodegenerative diseases. 3) To promote translational research interactions through the Medical Neuroscience Training Program with Eli Lilly.