- Email: [email protected]
Cesar V Borlongan
In Context
Milestones University College London (UCL), London, UK, opened a new Clinical Neuroscience Centre adjacent to the Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN). The centre hosts teams doing clinical research on epilepsy, movement disorders, stroke, and multiple sclerosis and also houses a functional neurosurgery unit that specialises in deep brain stimulation. Almost half of the £12 million cost was obtained from philanthropic donations, mostly raised by the National Hospital Development Foundation, a charity that raises funds for the NHNN; the Foundation also contributed to the cost of a £14 million Advanced Neuroimaging Suite, which hosts three advanced MRI scanners. The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute inaugurated its new research facility, a $30 million building at West Virginia University’s health science complex (Morgantown, WV, USA). The Institute, directed by Daniel L Alkon, will investigate the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and develop diagnostic tools and new therapies to track and halt memory loss. The US National Institute on Aging will award about $24 million over the next 5 years to implement a national survey of the patterns of disability and ageing. Phase one sees the enrolment of 12 000 participants aged 65 or older. Judy Kasper, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD, USA), is the principal investigator who will coordinate this multicentre project. The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres will invest around €20 million over the next 5 years to initiate a long-term cohort study of 200 000 people. Their aim is to understand the causes of common chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and dementia. The total cost for the initial 10-year period is estimated at €150–200 million, and all of the Helmholtz Association’s health centres will be involved. The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research awarded $2 million for research on therapies to alleviate cognitive and mood-related symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. The awardees are Eugenia Gurevich, John Growdon, Ben Schmand, Connie Marras, and Celeste Napier. Alim Louis Benabid received the 2008 International Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for his pioneering work on deep brain stimulation. With this award, the HHS acknowledges his contribution to the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Freedom Initiative. Send announcements to: [email protected]
www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 7 December 2008
Lifeline Cesar V Borlongan received his PhD in physiological psychology at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. He then pursued fellowships in neuroscience at the University of South Florida, USA, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. He is now a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, where he directs the Department of Neurology Cell Transplantation with the goal of advancing stem-cell therapy for brain disorders, in particular adult stroke and neonatal hypoxic ischaemic injury. What has been the greatest achievement of your career? After years of grant submissions being triaged and missing the payline scale, receiving an NIH notice of a grant award is by far a career milestone. Who was your most influential teacher, and why? My parents. They were both elementary school teachers who taught me and my three siblings to finish our homework before watching TV; they instilled in us the idea that although talent is a gift, education comes with many-fold rewards. What was your first experiment as a child? I tested my hypothesis that watching TV before completing my homework did not have any negative consequences. I was wrong and had to completely abandon my hypothesis! I shared this experience with my siblings. What would be your advice to a newly conferred PhD researcher? Never lose sight of science. Although NIH funding is tough and will only get tougher, nothing can replace the excitement of testing a hypothesis, abandoning or accepting it, and then publishing the results so that others can share your experience. What is the best piece of advice you have received, and from whom? Quips from my four mentors: Shigeru Watanabe, “Spend most of your time in the lab, and in your free time, stay in the lab”; David Hess, “Always aim high”; Paul Sanberg, “Those high in spirit always encounter strong resistance”; Barry Hoffer, “No good deed goes unpunished.” How would you improve the public’s understanding of research? Just telling the public the plain and simple truth: what we do in the laboratory will take years to bring to the clinic. We need to get rid of hype from hope. What apart from your family is the passion of your life? I go back to the lab after putting my two kids to bed, so the best time to get hold of me in the lab is in the wee hours. If you could have dinner tonight with a famous person of your choice (dead or alive), who would it be? My wife, Christine, a US Army Major who served for 15 months in Iraq. Our two kids and I missed her so much that we now try to spend as much time together as possible.
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Milestones University College London (UCL), London, UK, opened a new Clinical Neuroscience Centre adjacent to the Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN). The centre hosts teams doing clinical research on epilepsy, movement disorders, stroke, and multiple sclerosis and also houses a functional neurosurgery unit that specialises in deep brain stimulation. Almost half of the £12 million cost was obtained from philanthropic donations, mostly raised by the National Hospital Development Foundation, a charity that raises funds for the NHNN; the Foundation also contributed to the cost of a £14 million Advanced Neuroimaging Suite, which hosts three advanced MRI scanners. The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute inaugurated its new research facility, a $30 million building at West Virginia University’s health science complex (Morgantown, WV, USA). The Institute, directed by Daniel L Alkon, will investigate the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and develop diagnostic tools and new therapies to track and halt memory loss. The US National Institute on Aging will award about $24 million over the next 5 years to implement a national survey of the patterns of disability and ageing. Phase one sees the enrolment of 12 000 participants aged 65 or older. Judy Kasper, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD, USA), is the principal investigator who will coordinate this multicentre project. The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres will invest around €20 million over the next 5 years to initiate a long-term cohort study of 200 000 people. Their aim is to understand the causes of common chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and dementia. The total cost for the initial 10-year period is estimated at €150–200 million, and all of the Helmholtz Association’s health centres will be involved. The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research awarded $2 million for research on therapies to alleviate cognitive and mood-related symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. The awardees are Eugenia Gurevich, John Growdon, Ben Schmand, Connie Marras, and Celeste Napier. Alim Louis Benabid received the 2008 International Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for his pioneering work on deep brain stimulation. With this award, the HHS acknowledges his contribution to the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Freedom Initiative. Send announcements to: [email protected]
www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 7 December 2008
Lifeline Cesar V Borlongan received his PhD in physiological psychology at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. He then pursued fellowships in neuroscience at the University of South Florida, USA, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. He is now a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, where he directs the Department of Neurology Cell Transplantation with the goal of advancing stem-cell therapy for brain disorders, in particular adult stroke and neonatal hypoxic ischaemic injury. What has been the greatest achievement of your career? After years of grant submissions being triaged and missing the payline scale, receiving an NIH notice of a grant award is by far a career milestone. Who was your most influential teacher, and why? My parents. They were both elementary school teachers who taught me and my three siblings to finish our homework before watching TV; they instilled in us the idea that although talent is a gift, education comes with many-fold rewards. What was your first experiment as a child? I tested my hypothesis that watching TV before completing my homework did not have any negative consequences. I was wrong and had to completely abandon my hypothesis! I shared this experience with my siblings. What would be your advice to a newly conferred PhD researcher? Never lose sight of science. Although NIH funding is tough and will only get tougher, nothing can replace the excitement of testing a hypothesis, abandoning or accepting it, and then publishing the results so that others can share your experience. What is the best piece of advice you have received, and from whom? Quips from my four mentors: Shigeru Watanabe, “Spend most of your time in the lab, and in your free time, stay in the lab”; David Hess, “Always aim high”; Paul Sanberg, “Those high in spirit always encounter strong resistance”; Barry Hoffer, “No good deed goes unpunished.” How would you improve the public’s understanding of research? Just telling the public the plain and simple truth: what we do in the laboratory will take years to bring to the clinic. We need to get rid of hype from hope. What apart from your family is the passion of your life? I go back to the lab after putting my two kids to bed, so the best time to get hold of me in the lab is in the wee hours. If you could have dinner tonight with a famous person of your choice (dead or alive), who would it be? My wife, Christine, a US Army Major who served for 15 months in Iraq. Our two kids and I missed her so much that we now try to spend as much time together as possible.
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