Collaborative seed grant proposals were solicited with the following requirements: involve more than one laboratory and discipline, address a current scientific focus of the Hope Center, have a clear application to research translation, and show promise for subsequent independent funding.

Current projects are funded by the Hope Center with additional support from the Washington University McDonnell Center for Higher Brain Function and the Washington University McDonnell Centerfor Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology.

Project 1: $100,000
"Unraveling the amyloid fibril with polyphenols"
Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology
Carl Frieden, PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
John Heuser, MD, Cell Biology and Physiology
Rohit Pappu, PhD, Biomedical Engineering
David Wozniak, PhD, Psychiatry

Polyphenols are natural substances found in vegetables, fruits, roots, flowers, tea, and wine. These micronutrients have antioxidant properties and may play a role in disease prevention. This project will discover whether specific polyphenols can reverse the pathological aggregation of amyloid protein and amyloid plaques of Alzheimer's Disease. This project brings together accomplished investigators from five departments, with a remarkable range of experimental techniques from high resolution atomic force microscopy to mouse behavior.


Project 2: $50,000
"In vivo labeled proteomics in human CSF"
Randall Bateman, MD, Neurology
Donald Elbert, PhD, Biomedical Engineering
Alison Goate, PhD, Psychiatry

Dr. Randy Bateman is a new faculty member of the Hope Center. A neurology physician-scientist working in Dr. David Holtzman's laboratory, Dr. Bateman developed a new method for measuring the production of brain proteins by sensitive measurement from human cerebrospinal fluid. This technique has been used for pioneering studies of Alzheimer's Disease and now offers potential for use in early diagnosis and treatment of a range of important neurological conditions. Click here to read more.

Project 3: $50,000
"Use of hybrid mammalian-yeast prions to identify factors that
inhibit protein aggregation"
David Harris, MD, PhD, Cell Biology and Physiology
Heather True, PhD, Cell Biology and Physiology

Prion proteins are involved in fatal neurodegenerative brain illnesses including Jacob-Creutzfeld Disease and "Mad Cow" disease. These diseases are like other neurodegenerative diseases in that the primary pathology starts with abnormal accumulation of proteins within brain cells. This project is a collaboration between two Hope Center faculty members: David Harris is an established prion neuroscientis; Heather True is a yeast cell biologist. Together, they have developed an innovative technique which uses yeast to screen many thousands of genes at a time, to find those genes which potentially inhibit protein misfolding and aggregation.