Mapping Brain Structure and Function in AD

简介(申请人提供)：这是独立科学家职业发展奖(K02)申请“绘制AD的大脑结构和功能图”的重新提交，旨在加强申请者对神经退行性变过程、痴呆症以及用于评估和监测功能损害的神经心理学测量的了解。K02活动将使应聘者获得最先进的结构神经成像方法的技能，将临床知识与量化专业知识相结合，并开发更适用于临床的神经成像方法。申请者是匹兹堡大学放射学和生物统计学研究副教授和PET方法学负责人。候选人在方法论服务倡议上投入了大量时间，K02奖项将保护申请者获得新的和最新的研究知识的关键时间，支持她追求独立的新颖研究，同时促进合作研究互动。申请人的主要研究专长是评价配体结合作用、血流和葡萄糖代谢的PET成像的新方法。该候选人的独立研究旨在：1)确定一种简单有效的PET方法，用于使用淀粉样蛋白结合放射性示踪剂匹兹堡化合物B或PIB(R01 MH070729,2004-7)在体内评估阿尔茨海默病(AD)中的淀粉样沉积；以及2)测量有或不伴有抑郁症的2型糖尿病患者的血流和5-羟色胺神经受体系统功能(K01 MH001976,2001-6)。K02的活动将基于她作为淀粉样成像项目成像、方法学和统计核心主管的淀粉样成像R01研究和相关研究，该项目将把PIB PET成像扩展到纵向研究和非阿尔茨海默病(P01 AG025204，PI：S.DeKosky，M.D.，2005-10)。K02的活动符合候选人的长期目标，即开发全面的神经成像方法，利用多种类型的受试者内部信息(例如结构磁共振、功能性PET、行为测量)来提供稳健的结果测量，这些测量在临床上更具信息性，与她的导师职业发展奖(K01)的主题一致，该奖项已进入最后一年。

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.