Clinical Neurodegeneration Translational Neuroscience – CNTN

Topics

• Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias including mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTLD) and vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). 
• Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other movement disorders (Huntington’s disease (HD), dystonia, dyskinesia, and ataxias). 
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and related motor neuron disorders. 
• Chemo- and/or radioactive-induced cognitive impairments.  
• Neuroimaging (MRI, DTI, MRS, PET and fMRI), molecular, neuropathological biomarkers to assess risk, onset, progression, and treatment response.  
• Prevention and treatment responses in neurodegenerative diseases, and neurocognitive diseases, particularly deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of PD and transcranial magnetic stimulation for AD or neurocognitive disorders. 
• Large scale data sets including biomarkers, -omics, longitudinal studies.  
• Environmental risk factors 
• Genomic and epigenetic studies relating to risk factors, progression and outcomes.  
• Interventions including behavioral, pharmacologic, neuromodulatory approaches. 

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests in neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment including dementia with Aging Systems and Geriatrics (ASG). Applications that emphasize risk factors, mechanisms, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize cognitive changes in older adults and neurodegeneration-associated dementia in the context of multi-organ/system dysfunction, such as aging-related cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, metabolic, and gut-brain axis dysregulations, are reviewed in ASG.  

There are shared interests in clinical symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders with Adult Lifespan Psychopathology Study Section (ALP). Applications that emphasize disease risks, mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize observational studies in neuropsychological/neuropsychiatric manifestations of neurodegenerative disorders are reviewed in ALP. 

There are shared interests in cognitive impairment in aging-related neurodegenerative disorders with Cognitive Disorders & Brain Aging (CDBA). Applications that emphasize etiology, mechanisms, pathologies, progression, and treatment are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize behavioral aspects of cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) are reviewed in CDBA.  

There are shared interests in all neurodegenerative disorders with Chronic Dysfunction and Integrative Neurodegeneration (CDIN). Applications that emphasize humans, or some animal studies paralleling with clinical studies are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize preclinical studies in animals are reviewed in CDIN.  

There are shared interests in neurodegeneration associated with vascular factors such as vascular contributions to cognitive impairment & dementia (VCID) and traumatic brain injuries with Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disorders (BIND). Applications that emphasize cerebrovascular-related changes in neurocircuitry and neural excitability, brain degenerative progression, diagnosis, and treatment are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize cellular, structure, and functional outcome of vasculature and/or neuropathological responses to TBI are reviewed in BIND. 

There are shared interests in neuroimaging studies with Imaging Technology for Neuroscience (ITN). Applications that emphasize using established imaging technologies for studying brain structures, circuit connectivity, and functions are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize developing new imaging technologies and testing novel imaging parameters in neurological and degenerative diseases are reviewed in ITN. CNTN does not review applications focused on new technologies that only use the neurological disorders as an output secondary to the focus on the further development or refinement of the imaging tools. 

There are shared interests in neuromodulation technologies with Neuromodulation and Imaging of Neuronal Circuits (NINC). Applications that emphasize using established neuromodulatory/stimulatory technologies in measurement and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize development, validation, optimization, and testing novel brain stimulation and modulation technologies such as DBS, TMS, tDCS, etc., are reviewed in NINC.  

There are shared interests in genetic, genomic and epigenetic factors contributing to the risk factor and/or pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders with Genetics of Health and Disease (GHD) and Molecular Neurogenetics (MNG). Applications that emphasize on risk factors, biomarkers, diagnosis, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that strongly emphasize the genomic or transcriptome functions in neurodegenerative disorders are reviewed in MNG and GHD. 

There are shared interests in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorder with Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors (CNBT). Applications that emphasize addressing the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and progression of these disorders and/or their functional consequences and the mechanisms and management of human chronic neurodegenerative diseases are reviewed in CNTN. Applications that emphasize the neuroimmunology and neuroinflammation in these CNS degenerative diseases, rather than the diseases themselves or are focused on neuroimmune cells and pathways in these diseases are reviewed in CNBT.