Grant: Project Grant

The adult brain contains several populations of neural stem cells. In addition to the "active" neural stem cells, which participate in processes such as learning and memory and ongoing replacement of cells in certain brain regions, there also appear to be several types of "quiescent" neural stem cells, whose biological functions remain poorly understood. We believe that these quiescent neural stem cells can be harnessed to enhance the brain's intrinsic self-repair capacity during neurodegenerative diseases and following injury. Our laboratory has recently developed an experimental strategy that allows us for the first time to directly study and manipulate one of the adult brain's quiescent neural stem cell populations. In this research proposal, we take advantage of this strategy to determine what the normal functions of these cells are, how their quiescence is controlled, and how they can be activated during normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease. Our experiments will be carried out using innovative and powerful animal models, which will provide us with fundamental new insights into how stem cells are regulated in the adult brain and can be re-activated under pathological conditions. It is our hope that this will accelerate the development of therapeutic approaches for using the brain's own stem cell system in order to promote brain health and repair.