Biomedical Frontiers: Winter 1995, Vol.2, No.2
Neuroscience at Columbia

by Herbert Pardes, M.D.,
Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean, Faculty of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons

Besides being blessed with clinical neurology facilities that treat more patients than any other hospital in the country, Columbia has some of the top basic researchers in neuroscience. Columbia is home to both the Neurological Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Investigators specializing in neuroscience.

In this issue of Biomedical Frontiers we showcase some of the recent exciting developments in basic and clinical neuroscience, including a profile of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center; Dr. Thomas Jessell's work on nerve growth factors; Dr. Richard Axel's developing understanding of the mechanism of mammalian olfaction; Drs. Richard Mayeux's and Michael Shelanski's leadership in Alzheimer's disease research; grants for neuroscience; and pioneering efforts in neurointerventional radiology.

Other examples of our neuroscience and neurology efforts have been touched upon in previous issues of this year-old publication. We described Dr. Nancy Wexler's role in identifying the Huntington's disease gene; Dr. T. Conrad Gilliam's leading a team that identified the gene for Wilson's disease, a disorder of copper metabolism that creates neurological damage; Dr. Norman Latov's research about how HIV-1 may activate complement to cause neuronal death in AIDS; Dr. Jeffrey Bruce's efforts in understanding angiogenesis factors in brain tumors; our Center for Molecular Recognition that studies the structure of a variety of neurotransmitter receptors; Dr. Stanley Fahn's role in fetal tissue transplants for Parkinson's disease; and Columbia's new medical imaging capabilities, a new PET and a 5.0 Tesla MRI scanner in construction.

Besides these activities, it is worth noting that Columbia is home of "the" textbook in neuroscience, Principles of Neural Science. The book was written by P&S faculty and edited by Dr. Eric R. Kandel, Dr. James H. Schwartz, and Dr. Thomas Jessell. Dr. Kandel is a University Professor and a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work on the biological basis of memory and learning is world-renowned. Other neuroscientists who are Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators are Dr. Richard Axel, Dr. Steven Siegelbaum (who studies how second messengers modulate ion channels in nerve cells), and Dr. Gary Struhl (who studies development in Drosophila).

The Neurological Institute conducts research and clinical trials in many categories of neurological disorders. Specialties include The Behavioral Neurology and Dementia Program; The Child Neurology Program; The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center; The Neurology Critical Care Unit; The Huntington's Disease Clinic; The Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy and Related Diseases including neuromuscular disorders; The Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care Center; The Neuro-Oncology Unit; The Parkinsonism and Movement Disorder Clinic; The Gertrude Sergievsky Center that studies the epidemiology of neurodevelopmental disorders; and the Stroke Center and its associated Neurovascular Unit.

The Institute's record of achievement includes the introduction of phenytoin (Dilantin) to treat epilepsy; the first use of L-Dopa as an effective treatment for Parkinson's disease; the development of neuroradiology as a distinct medical discipline; and the first use of magnetic resonance imaging to achieve an earlier and more precise evaluation of stroke damage.

Ten years ago, Columbia was a pioneer in applying the tools of molecular biology to study the brain. Today, according to Dr. Kandel, neural signaling, development, synaptic plasticity, and motor and sensory processes essentially have been sketched out; only the details need to be filled in. The molecular biological approach also is paying off clinically, such as in understanding Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases.

What's the next frontier? To fathom the mind. To merge neurobiology and cognitive psychology so as to comprehend human thought and emotion. And Columbia, with its excellence in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, and basic neuroscience, is poised to meet the challenge.