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Contact:
Jeff Picarello
516-367-8486
picarell@cshl.edu
June 23, 2006
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Media
Contact:
Kristen Simone
NARSAD
516-829-0091
ksimone@narsad.org
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Two CSHL Post-Docs Receive NARSAD
Young Investigator Awards
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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Sandra J. Kuhlman, Ph.D.,
and Eleonore Real, Ph.D., were recently selected by NARSAD: The Mental
Health Research Association to each receive a 2006 Young Investigator
Award.
NARSAD is the world’s leading donor-supported organization
dedicated to funding research on psychiatric disorders. Drs. Kuhlman
and Real are two of 206 early-career scientists in the United States
and abroad who will receive a total of $11.6 million this year from
NARSAD to advance their research of mental illnesses. They were chosen
from a pool of 789 applicants.
Dr. Kuhlman will receive $60,000 from NARSAD for the next two years
to study in an animal model how changes in GABAergic synapses in
the prefrontal cortex play a role in memory impairment in people
with schizophrenia. Dr. Real will receive $60,000 from NARSAD for
the next two years to study glutamate receptor trafficking and synaptic
plasticity, since glutamate abnormalities have been implicated in
psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression.
NARSAD’s 2006 Young Investigator Award recipients are involved
in a wide variety of novel research projects, ranging from the genetics
of mental illness to treatment assessments. Their work should bring
new scientific insight to such conditions as depression, bipolar
disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety and autism, and other disorders
that affect adults and children.
“
The scientists whom NARSAD chooses to support represent the best
in the field and are pursuing the most innovative and promising research,” said
Constance E. Lieber, president of NARSAD. “Their work will
continue to accelerate progress in the study of all areas of psychiatric
disorders.”
“
NARSAD’s Young Investigator awards attract emerging talent
to the field and expand the research potential for mental health,” added
Herbert Pardes, M.D., president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital,
who is also president of NARSAD’s Scientific Council. The council,
comprised of 89 prominent leaders in mental health research, reviews
the project proposals NARSAD receives and makes funding recommendations.
NARSAD created the Young Investigator Award to help promising scientists
entering research—i.e. post-doctoral fellows, advanced standing
medical residents and assistant professors—to generate pilot
data necessary for larger grants. NARSAD also annually offers a Distinguished
Investigator Award, supporting innovative research by full professors
or their equivalent with $100,000 one-year grants, and the Independent
Investigator Award, providing two-year grants of $100,000 to mid-career
scientists, such as associate professors or their equivalent.
NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association raises funds to advance
research on the causes, treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders.
Founded as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and
Depression, it is the largest donor-supported organization in the
world devoted to funding scientific research on psychiatric brain
and behavior disorders. Since 1987, NARSAD has given more than $194
million in grants to 2,264 scientists at 340 universities and medical
research institutions throughout the United States and in 23 other
countries. For additional information on the work of NARSAD, the
research it supports and various psychiatric disorders, visit the
organization’s website at www.narsad.org.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, non-profit research institution
with a strong educational mission. Under the leadership of President
Bruce Stillman, Ph.D., a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and a Fellow of the Royal Society (London), more than 330 scientists
at the Laboratory conduct groundbreaking research in cancer, neurobiology,
plant genetics, and bioinformatics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
is one of the top rated National Cancer Institute-designated research
centers in the U.S.
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