The medical school has begun renovating 14,000 square feet on the ground floor of the McMillan and Irene Walter Johnson buildings for the Neuroclinical Research Unit (NCRU).

Photo by David Kilper

Ronald B. DeMattoes, Ph.D., (left), research fellow in neurology, and David M. Holtzman, M.D., head of the Department of Neurology, look at brain tissues of mice with Alzheimer's-like plaques. The new Hope Center for Neurological Disorders and Neuroclinical Research Unit will help advance neurology research programs at the University.

The project is funded by a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and $1.8 million from the School of Medicine.

The University's neurology program is the second-largest recipient of federal research funds in the nation, and more than half of those resources support clinical research.

Announcement of this expanded and centralized clinical trials unit coincides with the release of the neurology department's creation of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, a center dedicated to basic research on neurological disorders.

"Our faculty have made significant contributions to the field of neuroscience, both in the laboratory and in the clinic," said David M. Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor, the Charlotte and Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology and head of the Department of Neurology. "The NCRU will help us ensure our scientific discoveries are efficiently and effectively translated into improvements in patient care."

Bringing basic science findings to the patient's bedside is a cornerstone of BioMed 21, the School of Medicine's strategic initiative launched last year.

In addition to patient examination rooms and state-of-the-art clinical and research equipment, the NCRU will house offices and work stations for junior faculty, medical trainees, nurses, study coordinators and other support staff.

Bringing all these resources together will foster collaboration between scientific teams and provide a convenient space for study participants, according to NCRU director Joel S. Perlmutter, M.D., the Elliot Stein Family Professor of Neurology.

"We've always had a huge clinical research effort, but we haven't had centralized facilities in which to conduct that research," said Perlmutter, also a professor of radiology and of physical therapy and an associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology. "This physical space will cultivate productive synergies, both of financial resources and of scientific thoughts and ideas."