Neurological Sciences Academic Development Awards

University Of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is the goal of this competing renewal application for the Neurological Sciences Academic Development Award that we continue to train, with the highest rigor, candidates who will succeed in academic child neurology. At UCSF, we have created a program that fosters clinical excellence and rigorous postgraduate scientific training. The NSADA has provided the foundation for our division to grow academically and has allowed us to merge clinical training with scientific discovery. The overall theme of our application is "Mechanisms of neurological diseases presenting in infancy and childhood: phenotype-genotype correlations". We will offer rigorous basic and translational scientific training to young investigators skilled at recognizing the phenotypes of complex childhood neurological diseases. This clinical training will allow them to ask important questions about the complex genetics of disease, and should bring understanding to a variety of diseases where the gene is known but the mechanism of disease is not. Our first candidate will study the phenotype-genotype correlations in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex focusing on a subset of patients who present with infantile spasms. She will use the facilities of the Pediatric Clinical Research Center to form a clinical database for these patients, the resources of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance for patient enrollment, and the established expertise of leaders in neuroimaging and cell biology of the malformed proteins, tuberin and hamartin. Additional candidates have been identified who will, upon completion of their clinical training, investigate such disorders as channelopathies and autism. We have included in the grant, as well as the appendices, the rich resources that are provided to these applicants. With well established, nationally recognized and supported training programs to support the didactic phase, coupled with a team of research scientists committed to the career development of child neurologists, we will succeed in bringing forth the next generation of leaders in academic child neurology.