Midcareer Investigator Award

描述（由申请人提供）：目前的提案是对先前资助的K24的竞争性更新。首席研究员Clayton Wiley博士是一名临床和实验神经病理学家，在神经疾病研究和医师科学家指导方面拥有丰富的经验。Wiley博士的研究重点是神经退行性疾病，特别强调艾滋病病毒如何介导神经损伤。他是两个资助研究阿尔茨海默病和帕金森病的神经退行性疾病中心的活跃研究者，一个非资助的艾滋病研究中心，目前是一个资助的主要研究者专注于艾滋病毒介导的大脑损伤。在K24的最初5年，Wiley博士将他主要基于组织的研究转变为更多的临床方向，研究使用最先进的成像技术来监测免疫细胞与神经系统的相互作用，使用人类和非人类灵长类动物。拟议的K24资助的最后5年将用于完成这些研究并扩大其他神经退行性疾病（如阿尔茨海默病）的方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current proposal is a competitive renewal of a previously funded K24. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Clayton Wiley, is a clinical and experimental Neuropathologist with extensive experience in research of neurological disease and in mentorship of physician scientists. Dr. Wiley's research has focused on neurodegenerative diseases with particular emphasis on how the AIDS virus mediates neurological damage. He is an active investigator in 2 funded centers studying the neurodegenerative disorders of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease, a non-funded Center for AIDS Research and is currently a funded Principal Investigator of grants focused on HIV mediated damage of the brain. In the initial 5 years of this K24, Dr. Wiley transitioned his predominantly tissue based studies into a more clinical orientation examining the use of state of the art imaging technology to monitor immune cell interactions with the nervous system using human and non-human primates. The final 5 years of proposed K24 funding will be directed at completing these studies and broadening the approach to other neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Alzheimer's Disease). Dr. Wiley is also an active mentor for physician scientists at all stages of training and has been a leading innovator in development of training programs. During the first 5 years of K24 support Dr. Wiley co-directed 2 T32 training programs, served on the executive committees of K30 and K12 programs and re-built and directed the Pittsburgh MSTP, taking a moribund program and creating a model training system for budding clinical investigators. Renewal of the K24 proposal will protect Dr. Wiley's time from classroom, clinical and administrative responsibilities allowing him to focus his efforts on developing his clinical research program. In addition to advancing his clinical and preclinical studies, Dr. Wiley will engage in a rigorous clinical scientist training didactic curriculum and participate in national and international workshops on imaging, modeling and statistical analyses.