Funding News - Applications on Deep Brain Stimulation Requested

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) request applications for research on the mechanisms of action of deep brain stimulation (DBS).* The objective of this request for applications (RFA) is to seek applications that will expand the consortium and strengthen the research effort in the area of mechanisms of action of DBS. Areas of potential research include: studies to further refine the understanding of the functional organization of basal ganglia and other parts of the motor control network and their role in the regulation of behaviors, such as voluntary movement; studies of the stimulatory and/or inhibitory effects of DBS on specific pathways, fibers of passage, and cell bodies in subthalamic nucleus (STN) or globus pallidus (GPi); preclinical studies in a suitable animal model to test the possibility that intervention with DBS in the early phase of Parkinson's disease (PD) modifies the progression of the disease; studies of the acute and long-term effects of DBS on the motor activity patterns in areas of the motor system that do not receive direct stimulation; parametric studies in a suitable model of the effects of stimulation parameters or stimulation location on the symptoms of PD; studies of the effect of DBS on gene expression and synaptic plasticity in areas of the motor system that do not receive direct stimulation; development of improved animal models showing progressive degeneration that allow the study of the physiology of brain stimulation in the normal and diseased or injured brain and the changes chronic stimulation evokes; and studies in a suitable animal model of the effect of DBS on non-motor symptoms of PD. APPLICATION RECEIPT DATE: November 20, 2001. For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. William Heetderks, Program Director, Repair and Plasticity Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2207, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: (301) 496-1447; fax: (301) 480-1080; e-mail: heet@nih.gov; or Dr. Eugene Oliver, Program Director, Neurodegeneration Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2203, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: (301) 496-5680; fax: (301) 480-1080; e-mail: eo11c@nih.gov.

*For a more detailed description of this RFA, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-02-003.html.