Boston University Aphasia Research Core Center

Boston University Medical Campus, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The principal objectives of the Aphasia Research Core Center are to recruit research participants and to provide clinical assessment and data management and analysis services for research projects that advance the theoretical understanding, clinical evaluation, and treatment of language disorders produced by injury or dysfunction of the brain in adults. The Aphasia Research Core Center consists of two cores: a Clinical Assessment Core and a Data Management and Analysis (DAMA) Core, together with administrative support for these cores. The Clinical Assessment Core recruits research participants, provides comprehensive assessments of aphasic, right brain damaged, and healthy elderly subjects, and coordinates their participation in all research projects associated with the Core Center. Assessment Core examinations include four major components: a medical/neurological evaluation by a behavioral neurologist, a language evaluation, a neuropsychological evaluation, and a neuroimaging evaluation. The Data Management and Analysis Core provides a comprehensive database of all assessment and research data for each research participant. The primary objectives of this core are to manage the data obtained by members of the Clinical Assessment Core and all research projects, to make the data accessible to all ARC researchers, and to provide research design and statistical support for on-going analysis of data and development of new research protocols. The DAMA core has three major service areas: data management, research design and statistical analysis, and education of research investigators. To achieve the overall goals of the Core Center, we intend to support research on language and aphasia within different, but interrelated, disciplines simultaneously. The unifying agenda of the Core Center will be to integrate these various approaches to arrive at a coherent picture of how language is represented in the brain.