Title:Grant supports brain health research at GUMC

Two multidisciplinary teams focused on Parkinson’s and stroke recovery received the Thomas A. Reynolds III Return to Function Challenge Grant last year.

The grants will support each team as they continue their research centered on Georgetown University Medical Center’s “Brain Health” pillar of excellence, which aims to lift the university as a world leader in restoring neurological function through research, education, care, and systems change.

The stroke recovery team is analyzing molecular biomarkers in blood samples to detect how tissues and organs are affected in stroke patients. The method was successfully applied in monitoring treatment effects in patients with cancer and in patients receiving liver transplants by studying blood samples collected before and after treatment or transplant.

“The brain is one of the most complicated organs and every patient’s childhood, lifestyle, diet, and disease history affects how they react to a stroke and how they recover,” says Anton Wellstein, professor of oncology and pharmacology. “In this project we plan to establish the capability to monitor molecular and cellular changes during stroke recovery at the individual patient level to ultimately guide therapeutic interventions.”

The Parkinson’s team is studying senescence cells—aging cells in the brain that stop dividing but do not die—to understand their role in Parkinson’s disease.

Using postmortem brain tissue from Parkinson’s disease patients and tissue from people without the disease, they aim to identify the presence and location of these cells. The team will also use advanced in vivo rodent models to recreate key features of Parkinson’s, allowing them to observe how these cells affect brain activity and inflammation. The goal is to uncover how these aging cells interfere with normal brain function.

“This is the power of a team,” says Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss, professor and chair of neuroscience. “Together we can tackle how Parkinson’s affects the brain in ways no single lab could. We are very grateful to Mr. Reynolds for making this work possible.”

Data generated by the team work under this Return to Function Challenge Grant is crucial for the completion of publications and provides the underpinnings for successful multi-disciplinary federal and other grant applications to further the research.