Boston University Aphasia Research Core Center

Boston University Medical Campus, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The unifying agenda of the Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center (HGARC) is to integrate research and researchers to arrive at a coherent picture of how language is represented in the brain for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment of persons with communication disorders due to brain damage. We are a consortium of clinicians, clinical researchers, and research scientists representing the disciplines of cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics, behavioral neurology, speech-language pathology, neuropsychology, communication sciences, and neuroimaging. A foundational element of the HGARC is the NIH-supported Boston University Aphasia Research Core Center (P30). The P30 currently provides core research services to 24 research projects affiliated with the HGARC, of which 14 are NIH-supported RGTs (11 NIDCD). The P30 consists of two research support 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 brain damaged adults and healthy elderly subjects, and coordinates their participation in all research. Clinical Core examinations include four major components: medical/neurological, language, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging. The Data Management and Analysis Core provides a comprehensive, protected database of all assessment and research data for each research participant. The specific aims of this Core are to manage the data obtained by members of the clinical core and all research projects, ensure data integrity, make data accessible to all HGARC researchers, and provide research design and statistical support for on-going analysis of data and development of new research protocols. Our P30 allows for the centralization of labor-intensive tasks that could not otherwise be supported on the budgets of the affiliated research projects. [unreadable]