Channels, Synapses and Neural Circuits
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Channels, synapses, and neural circuits are fundamental structural and functional elements of the nervous system. Detailed and integrated knowledge of these elements is essential for understanding how the nervous system works under normal and abnormal conditions. In recent years, remarkable progress and exciting discoveries have been made in the basic research in these areas; only few of them, however, have been directly connected to mechanisms underlying the causes of numerous neurological disorders. The major goals of our program are
Clinical Trials
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Scientific initiatives that stimulate translation of ideas from basic animal research to testing the safety and early indications of efficacy through phases I and II clinical trials, epidemiological studies of the natural history and early markers of neurological disorders and stroke, to elucidate the causative path leading to the disorders and to stimulate the search for new treatments and prevention strategies.
Neural Environment
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Neurological disorders may result when extra-neuronal cells are compromised, as in demyelinating and cerebrovascular diseases; when extra-neuronal cells themselves become aggressors, as in inflammatory responses within the nervous system, when viruses, bacteria, or parasites infect the cells of the nervous system, when autoimmune responses damage nerve and muscle; when cells of the blood-brain barrier are dysfunctional, or when glial dysfunction in the developing nervous system results in developmental abnormalities. Glial cells, microvascular endothelia, and cells of hematopoetic origin are integrally involved in the normal development and/or functioning of the nervous system and play a crucial role in disease. Emerging concepts on the interaction among all of these cells hold great promise for increasing our understanding of how the nervous system works in normal and diseased states, and will broaden our perspective on how we think about the nervous system.
Neurodegeneration
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Neuronal cell death, how protein aggregation damages neurons, and the interaction of genes and the environment in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases.
Neurogenetics
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Includes identifying the genes that cause neurological disorders. Includes collecting family data and applying molecular genetic methodologies for gene identification. Investigating the molecular mechanisms through which disease genes act. Includes using animal models and in vitro techniques for studying pathways of gene function. Developing gene-based therapeutics for neurological disorders. Includes gene therapy and pharmaceuticals targeted to specific gene products. Investigating the genetic basis of normal neural development and function. Includes genetically-based studies of neuronal patterning, migration, connectivity, and cognitive/behavioral function. Developing resources for neurogenetic research. Includes tissue and information registries, atlases of gene expression and function, and mutagenesis and phenotyping methodologies.
Office of Minority Health and Research
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Research and research training programs designed to attract, retain and develop future minority neuroscience health and research professionals.
Repair and Plasticity
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Includes spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, recovery of function, plasticity of the nervous system, neural circuits that underlie specific behaviors, repair of the nervous system in injury and disease, stem cell biology, neural prostheses, neuroengineering and other means of repairing the nervous system in injury and disease.
Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience
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The Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience cluster supports research focused on higher brain functions that underlie complex behavioral phenomena such as learning, memory, attention, language, cognition, emotion, movement, the wakefulness-sleep cycle, response to pain, and feeding. These phenomena depend on the integrated functioning of neural circuits. Funded research involves human or animal subjects and employs advanced methods of neuroscience which are used to measure brain structure and function as well as neural activity associated with specific cognitive and behavioral processes.
Technology Development
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Includes preclinical therapeutics development, technologies for gene expression and proteomics analysis, imaging and informatics, data and resource sharing, and small business innovation programs.
Training and Career Development
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Includes the development, implementation, and management of programs for training and career development to meet the future needs of research on basic brain processes, from molecular to systems and clinical neuroscience.
Contracts Management Branch
The Contracts Management Branch (CMB) is responsible for the management and award of Research and Development contracts. Research and Development contracts are developed through extensive dialog with the scientific community and generally target a specific need or problem.
Office of International Activities
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The Mission of the Office of International Activities (OIA) at NINDS is to identify significant global health issues, to seek opportunities, and to develop creative approaches promoting international research, training, and collaborations in neuroscience that are relevant to the Institute's mission.
