Each year, the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders recognizes a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow whose work best fulfills the mission of the Hope Center: To improve the lives of those with neurological diseases through basic research that advances scientific knowledge, treatment, recovery, and cure. All pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral trainees who conduct translational neuroscience research at Washington University are invited to participate.
The 2008 competition requested that applicants submit:
- A completed application form;
- A first-author (or shared first-author) manuscript that had been submitted, accepted, or published in the previous six months; and
- A letter from the mentor verifying that the applicant was primarily responsible for designing and performing the experiments as well as analyzing the data, and did this work while at Washington University.
Winners received a $1000 award, and presented their work at the seminar series co-hosted by the Hope Center and the Department of Neurology.
Hope Center Award Winners
2008
Graduate Student:
Craig Press, laboratory of Jeff Milbrandt, "Nmnat delays axonal degeneration caused by mitochondrial and
oxidative stress."
Post Doc:
Qiang Liu, PhD, laboratory of Guojun Bu, "Amyloid Precursor Protein Regulates Brain Apolipoprotein E and
Cholesterol Metabolism through Lipoprotein Receptor LRP1."
2007
Graduate Student:
Biyu He, laboratory of Maurizio Corbetta, "Breakdown of intrinsic brain synchrony in spatial neglect: a novel mechanism to explain brain-behavior relationships after stroke."
Post Doc:
Fernanda Laezza, PhD, laboratories of David Ornitz and Jeanne Nerbonne, "A single mutation in FGF14 interferes with function of voltage-gated sodium channels in mammalian neurons."
2006
Graduate Student:
Elizabeth Tank, laboratory of Heather True-Krob, "PrP Repeat Expansions Confers Enhanced Structural Variability."
Post Doc:
Conrad Weihl, MD, PhD, laboratories of Phyllis Hanson and Alan Pestronk, "Using both cellular and animal models of hereditary inclusion body myositis (IBM) to explore the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease."
2005
Graduate Student:
Michelle Schlief, laboratory of Jonathan Gitlin, "Novel insights into the mechanism of neurodegeneration in Menkes disease: copper-dependent excitotoxic neuroprotection."
Post Doc:
David Brody, MD, PhD, laboratory of David Holtzman, "Anti-A beta antibody attenuates cognitive impairment in a model of experimental traumatic brain injury."