Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Department of Neuroscience, 1983
The neuroscience program at the medical school was introduced in the early 1980s as a seminar series designed to bring together Tufts investigators possessing a common interest in research related to the nervous system. Among the first coordinators were Drs. Barbara Talamo, Suzanne RofflerTarlov, and Kathy Dunlap. A graduate program in neuroscience developed out of that seminar series in 1983. In 1987 a neuroscience center was organized with Dr. Talamo as the chair. | |
Later that year the center was awarded a five-year Pew Foundation Grant. This grant, one of five presented by the foundation, has been used to apply basic science research to clinical problems: faculty members have investigated neurodegenerative diseases by studying the relationship of peripheral olfactory neurons to the central neurons in the brain. This project, which has been spearheaded by Dr. John Kauer, has resulted in the identification of a peripheral site in the nervous system that shows extensive neural degeneration and altered neuronal function in Alzheimer's disease. | |
The center's faculty members have achieved national and international recognition, as can be seen in the multitude of lectures and symposia they are invited to present each year. The senior faculty have served as members of NIH study sections and have participated in program project and center grant reviews at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. | |
Source: COE, 138. | |
Subject terms: |