News

NIH rare disease clinical research network grant for FTD Awarded

SAN FRANCISCO, 10/22/14 - UCSF neurologists and Bluefield-funded investigators Adam Boxer, MD, PhD and Howard Rosen, MD were recently awarded an NIH grant to lead a Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) focused on frontotemporal dementia. The award will fund research at fourteen clinical sites across North America and will recruit patients with both sporadic and familial FTD for both longitudinal and cross-sectional brain imaging and clinical measurements.

In addition, the award will fund the creation of online research and patient contact registries and standardize the collection and evaluation of data across sites. Advocacy groups such as the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia and the Bluefield Project will work in partnership with academic research groups to foster these efforts, which are key to supporting therapeutic development and future clinical trials in FTD. The Bluefield Project has further committed to funding additional research studies that will synergize with the RDCTN award. Click here to read the press release from NIH.