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Neurological Institute
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Taub in the News
- The New York City Area Consortium on FTD Presents The New York City
Frontotemporal Dementia Caregiver Conference
November 20th, 2009 9:00am-4:30pm New York Academy of Medicine 1216 Fifth Ave. (103rd St.) NY, NY 10029
More information and registration details - Scott Small, Richard
Mayeux, and other Taub researchers are featured in the
HBO documentary series, The Alzheimer's Project beginning Sunday
May 10, 2009. For
a complete overview, please visit The
Alzheimer's Project website
- Richard Mayeux,
MD, MS, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry,
and Epidemiology, director of the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, and co-director
of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging
Brain, has received a five-year $5.6 million MERIT (Method To Extend Research
In Time) award extension from the National Institute on Aging to continue
studies of the genetic epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease in Hispanics.
The project has been funded by the NIA since December 1998.
- Richard Mayeux, M.D., co-director of the Taub
Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, received
the New York Academy of Medicine's 2008 John Stearns Award for Lifetime Achievement
in Medicine.
- Elan Louis, M.D.,
M.S., professor of neurology and epidemiology, has been awarded a $500,000
extension of funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke to continue work on studies of the brain metabolism and neuropathology
of essential tremor.
- Richard Mayeux, M.D. and
other researchers in the Taub Institute have found that a simple
blood test to detect whether a person might develop Alzheimer's
disease is within sight and could eventually help scientists
in their quest toward reversing the disease's onset in those
likely to develop the debilitating neurological condition. Read
more here.
- Dr. Karen Duff and colleagues have found
a process in the brain that may help explain the link between Alzheimer's
and stroke. Findings are published in the March 13, 2008 issue of Neuron. Read
more here.
- Dr. Richard Mayeux was awarded the 2007
Potamkin Prize by the American Academy of Neurology. He was honored for his
work showing that Alzheimer's likely results from a complex mixture of altered
genes and environmental factors.
- Jose A. Luchsinger,
M.D., Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, has
received a one-year, $100,000 research grant from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery
Foundation for pilot testing of the diabetes drug Metformin as a preventive
measure against cognitive decline. The foundation was established to expand
programs initiated by the Institute for the Study of Aging, a foundation
started by the family of cosmetics entrepreneur Estee Lauder.
- Christian Habeck has
received two grants from the NIH. The first grant, from
the National Institute of Aging, supports a 5 year longitudinal
study acquiring cerebral blood-flow data of 20 Alzheimer's patients,
60 subjects with mild cognitive impairment and 20 healthy controls
at 3 time points, using Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance
Imaging and sophisticated data-analytic techniques. The goal
is to derive a marker for early Alzheimer's disease, and test
its prognostic and diagnostic ability on the data of the mildly
cognitively impaired patients.
Funds from the second grant, from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, support a project that deals with multivariate mathematical approaches to neuroimaging analysis both in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Multivariate techniques, which help identify networks of neurological activity across brain regions, will be compared and contrasted with univariate approaches, which do not provide information about region-by-region correlation in the brain. The funds will also be used to design a user-friendly multivariate analysis software package geared towards end-users in the neuroscience community who do not have special mathematical training.
- Ottavio Arancio, MD,
PhD, assistant professor of pathology, has received a two-year, $376,000
grant from the National Institute on Aging. Funds will be used to develop
and generate new molecules that enhance a specific signaling pathway in
the synapse that Dr. Arancio has already identified, via mouse model, as
dysfunctional during the plaque disposition process in Alzheimer's disease,
disrupting both memory and brain plasticity.
- Adam M. Brickman, PhD, assistant professor of neuropsychology,
has been awarded $770,000 over five years by the National Institute on Aging
to study the impact of age on structural markers of pathology in the brain
and how these age-related changes impact cognitive abilities in older adults.
- Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas discussed
Alzheimer's Disease and answered listeners' questions on the
Leonard Lopate radio show. Listen
to the archived broadcast here.
- Dr. Lucien Côté received
the Distinguished Practioner Award by the Society of Practitioners
at Columbia University Medical Center. The award recognizes
Dr. Côté's outstanding clinical ability, his contributions to
the development of clinical medicine within CUMC, and his serving
as role model for countless numbers of clinicians and students
who have worked and trained in this center, says Dr. Paul F.
Simonelli, President of The Society of Practitioners.
- Dr. Scott Small's
research reveals that physical exercise can improve memory. Read
more here or in Newsweek's cover story.
- A team led by Dr. Richard
Mayeux has identified a gene, SORL1, associated with the
most common form of Alzheimer's Disease. The discovery opens a new pathway to
explore treatments or preventions. Read more here.
- Researchers led by Dr. Jose
Luchsinger have identified an association with folate or
folic acid intake and a reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease. Read
more here.
- The Taub Institute was cited for Best Alzheimer's Care in New York by New
York Magazine.
- Dr. Lloyd A. Greene has
been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science:
Lloyd A. Greene, Ph.D., professor of pathology in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, was cited for outstanding contributions to our understanding of neuronal development, differentiation, and survival, as well as service to the community through the development of model systems for studying these and other events.

