Past Pilot Grant Recipents
The University of California, Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center (UCD ADC) invites applications for pilot research grants with support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC)funds.
2001-2002
Diane Swick, Ph.D.
Daniel L. Cox, Ph.D.
Title:
"Assessing Semantic Memory in Alzheimer?s Disease: An ERP Study"
Description: The primary goal of this project is to investigate the status of the semantic memory system in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. An unresolved issue in the literature is whether the semantic deficits observed in some of these patients are caused by (1) degeneration of semantic memory structures or (2) problems in retrieving semantic information. The specific aims of the project are to measure electrophysiological activity (event-related potentials, or ERPs) generated during a picture priming paradigm that promotes automatic semantic activation and minimizes attentional and strategic demands. The latency, amplitude, and scalp distribution of the N400 ERP component in AD patients will be informative as to whether their semantic deficits can be attributed to degraded knowledge stores or difficulties in access. The excellent temporal resolution of ERPs will yield insights into the time-course of semantic retrieval and integration processes in healthy elderly controls as well.
PI:
Daniel L. Cox, Department of Physics, U.C. Davis
Investigators:Daniel L. Cox, Department of Physics, U.C. Davis
Rajiv R.P. Singh, Department of Physics, U.C. Davis
Title:
Novel Approaches to Modelling Amyloid Protein Aggregation Kinetics
Description:Our work has focused on applying the methods of theoretical statistical mechanics to the problem of amyloid protein aggregation