Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2003

Mentor: Frederick J. Bonte, M.D.
Department: Nuclear Medicine Center, Department of Radiology
Room number: E6.120
Mail Code: 9061
Phone number: 214-648-2025
E-mail: Frederick.Bonte@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Brain Blood Flow Imaging in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 1092-398

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 0953-03-01-1

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects). Patient-based, animal-based.

Brief Description of Project:

Two approaches are being made to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In human subjects, brain blood flow single-photon tomography (SPECT), with data processed by the mathematical procedure Statistical Parametric Mapping, has shown great promise in the differential diagnosis of the dementias, as between Alzheimer's disease and the various fronto-temporal dementias and the differential diagnosis between Alzheimer's disease and normal aging in the elderly and very old. A parallel study has been started, presently involving wild-type mice, in which nanoparticles are being created as vehicles to cross the blood/brain barrier to convey various radioactive labels for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by labeling amyloid plaques which are characteristic of the human disease. The next step which is several years in the future, will involve the use of transgenic mice which develop Alzheimer's disease. The student, Sarah Davis, will concentrate on the patient-based portion of this study, and the mathematical treatment of SPECT scan data; Moha Kulkarni, will concentrate on the animal-based portion of this study, and the mathematical treatment of SPECT scan data.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

This program was active 30 years ago during the time when I was Chairman of Radiology, but was only revived last summer in an experimental trial with the student, Cara Downey, who will appear as a co-author on a manuscript now in preparation on the differential diagnosis of the dementias, work in which Ms. Downey participated last summer as a summer student funded by the Nuclear Medicine Center. I have, however, participated in a number of joint presentations and posters with graduate students in the Advanced Radiological Sciences program (5 over the past year).

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