Molecular Neurology

Mission Statement

Our mission is to determine the brain composition of a wide variety of persons, both healthy and diseased. This enhanced knowledge base will substantially improve our understanding of the brain, thus enabling better diagnoses and more effective treatment.

Context

While there is extensive knowledge of the microscopic changes in a diseased brain, there is almost nothing known about the specific molecular differences between a normal brain and one with disease - amazing ignorance for the year 2001.  We want our physicians to understand and be able to cure disease. Yet, if the compositional changes of disease are unknown, it is not surprising that current diagnoses and treatments are often inadequate. Would we expect a mechanic to repair a broken car without knowing precisely the components of a normal car?

In this age of new technologies, computers, and the genome information, it is possible to begin mapping out the precise molecular differences between people with brain disease and those with normal brain functioning (defined as having no detectable disease).

The Brain Proteome Project

This is a new, large-scale and long-term brain research project. The Huntington Hospital ethics committee has approved this study for 200 normal participants and 400 participants afflicted with various diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, headache, depression, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.

We will make extensive measurements of clinical brain functions of study participants on multiple occasions. We will determine the molecular composition of their spinal fluid. Analyzing this information will allow us to discover how individual molecules are related to specific brain functions.

What is done?

Medical and demographic profiling
Neurophysiological measures (i.e., scalp electrodes and brain wave measurements)
Neuropsychological ratings (i.e., intelligence, memory, personality, mood and fatigue )
Neurological and psychiatric assessment
Neuroimaging (MRI scanning)
Proteome studies (i.e., electrophoresis, chromatography and mass spectrometry).

Study Participants

Our "honored guests" (110 thus far) are the core of the project.  We enroll from the local community, so that visits can be easily scheduled.  There is no charge to participants, moreover a small payment is given as a token of our appreciation.  Participants are well looked after, lunch is provided, and transportation is available.  This research project has no treatment component at this time.  Participants should receive any treatments or assessments from their own physicians, as usual. 

Procedures take the form of structured interviews and clinical examinations.  Molecular studies are then done primarily with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).  CSF is obtained by standard lumbar puncture (LP) that we believe is thoroughly safe; the Program Director and his son have had this done for the same research!  The only complication that may occur after an LP in our hands is the 5% possibility of a post-LP headache.  This is from fluid leakage that, while safe, causes a painful tugging inside the head.  If this occurs, we can cure this with a "blood patch", a simple procedure in which your own blood is used to clot and seal the leak.

Why risk an L-P headache? Our justification is that we are measuring 10,000 different molecules from each CSF sample and these massive maps reflect our brain composition. We are using these detailed measures to develop diagnostic tests and help work out the changes that occur in our brains. CSF provides the most important new information and is crucial for this research.

Assessments involve visits of two six-hour days with considerable scheduling flexibility.  Visits are repeated every 6-12 months, or when the condition fluctuates, such as during headache and non-headache states, or depression and "well" states. 

We want to follow our participants "forever". We are very keen to share the research results with our participants and welcome their input. We have an annual "thank you" party at which we also discuss research progress.

Our goal is to help doctors measure health and make earlier diagnoses of disease.  We expect to define new directions for treatment and better predict drug responsiveness for those afflicted with neurological diseases.

Contact Information

We welcome your interest in our project. If you would like to participate, or if you are interested in hearing more about the Molecular Neurology Program, please contact our Director:
Dr. Michael G. Harrington  626-795-4343 e-mail at mghworksathmridotorg.

Personnel

Mike Harrington, MD, Medical Scientist
Alfred Nji Fonteh, PhD, Biochemist
Robert Cowan, MD, Neurologist
Rosemary Chequer, MD, Neurologist
James Riggins, Ph.D., Research Scientist
Ryan Beck, Administrative Assistant

Funding

Norris Foundation
Hezlep Family Foundation
Pasadena Foundation
Glide Foundation
Gordon Ross Fund
Rotary Club of Pasadena
Millennium Predictive Medicine, Inc.
ThermoFinnigan