Neuro-Minded Navigators
Welcome aboard the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute,
whose crew of diverse specialists is charting new courses to treat
and cure devastating neurological disorders.
For more than four decades, scientists at the IU School of Medicine
have grappled with ways to better understand brain disorders such
as Alzheimer and Huntington disease, and chronic pain, and to correct
crippling spinal injuries. This journey will continue in new and
better ways at the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute.
The institute was made possible through a $16 million bequest to
the School from Dr. Paul and Carole Stark in November 2000. Located
on the top floor of the newly opened Research II facility, the institute
includes researchers from various disciplines and focuses on applying
advances in molecular, genetic and imaging technologies to fundamental
questions about brain function, dysfunction and development.
Leading these efforts is Gerry Oxford, PhD, (below) the first executive
director of the Stark Institute and professor of pharmacology and
toxicology. Dr. Oxford, whose appointment was made possible through
the Stark gift, was a distinguished professor in the Department
of Cell and Molecular Physiology and director of the neurobiology
curriculum at the University of North Carolina before his IU appointment.
“Our initial areas of focus will be in pain mechanisms, development
of and recovery from injury in the spinal cord, movement disorders,
stroke, and examining the molecular events underlying substance
abuse and addiction,” says Dr. Oxford. “Work in these
areas hopefully will contribute to the development of new therapeutic
approaches.”
Traditionally, neuroscience research has involved either electrical,
anatomical or pharmacological methods to understand the nervous
system pathways which communicate human thought, will and action,
and to understand chemical signaling between single nerve cells
and complex networks.
“To understand function and dysfunction of the nervous system
requires precise monitoring and simulating the activity of many
groups of nerve cells at once,” says Dr. Oxford, adding that
non-invasive imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography
and functional magnetic resonance imaging give researchers the tools
to more fully investigate the central nervous system.
“As a result, modern neuroscience research now draws experts
from the fields of molecular biology, genetics, physics, engineering
and mathematics to the challenge of understanding the brain,”
he notes.
The collaborative approach is the cornerstone on which the Stark
Neuroscience Research Institute is built, and the recruitment of
top-flight investigators and faculty is an immediate goal. Dr. Oxford
says researchers will be organized into focus groups and with clinicians
and resident researchers in specific areas of neuroscience, including
pain, spinal injury, addiction, development and behavioral disorders.
Outreach programs and a regular series of scientific seminars are
planned, as well as increased interaction with other academic and
neuroscience institutions. Dr. Oxford says another top priority
is to develop enhanced biomedical training at the undergraduate,
graduate and post-graduate levels.
“The logical extension of these efforts will be reflected
in establishing centers of excellence in specific areas of neuroscience
and in attracting outside funding,” Dr. Oxford says, noting
that partnerships with the corporate sector and other institutions
will lead to the development of new pharmaceuticals and therapeutic
interventions.
Part of the Stark gift established the Stark Neurosciences Scholarship
Fund, which will assist students interested in pursuing careers
in neuroscience. In 1993, the family endowed the Paul Stark Professor
of Pharmacology and Toxicology, a position held by Michael Vasko,
PhD, chair of the School’s Department of Pharmacology and
Toxicology.
Dr. Stark was a clinical associate professor of pharmacology at
the IU School of Medicine. Later in his career, he led a team that
conducted clinical trials on central nervous system compounds and
played an essential role in the development of Prozac with Eli Lilly
and Co.
In 1984, Dr. Stark, who also earned a degree from the IU School
of Law in Indianapolis, founded the International Clinical Research
Corporation, which designs global trials for new drugs.
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