Research and education are core programs at NeuroTexas Institute. Dedicated to quality patient care, the Institute is also focused on advancing the field of Neuroscience and promoting physician and patient education.
Research Initiatives
The brain and nervous system are the most complex organs in the human body, yet we know precious little about how they work. One of the great challenges in modern science is therefore understanding how the brain and nervous system function: How do these organs work? What can go wrong with them? How can doctors repair them? The answers to these questions promise to greatly improve human health and fundamentally alter our society.
Research at NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s HealthCare combines biology, computer science, mathematics, physics, and engineering to discover vital clues about how the brain and nervous system function. Research at NeuroTexas Institute focuses on advancing the "state of the art" in neurological and neurosurgical care. We are currently exploring a wide range of projects relating to statistical analysis of patient outcomes, the genetic and functional bases of neurological diseases, the epidemiology of neurological diseases and mathematical models of neurons in the brain.
Research Activities
The following research activities are currently ongoing at NeuroTexas Institute:
Genome-Wide Association (GWA) Studies
Genome-wide association (GWA) studies are becoming a powerful and cost-effective approach to identifying the genes and molecules underlying human traits, including disease. GWA studies have many advantages over classical genetic approaches, but most notable is that such studies can survey an entire human genome in a matter of two hours for about $500. Consider that roughly ten years ago the first human genome was sequenced after 2-5 years of effort and tens of millions of dollars.
The GWA approach provides scientists with an unprecedented window through which to peer into our genetic content. To date, many common human traits such as hair color and many major disease have been studied through a GWA analysis (see this compilation for the genetic locations of numerous traits). The GWA framework has many potential applications in healthcare, and more will become possible as the technology continues to mature. Indeed, the technology is poised to become an important weapon in the arsenal of clinicians to diagnose and treat a wide array of diseases. For example, GWAS technologies are being used to identify genetic markers that increase an individual’s risk of developing an aggressive form of brain cancer; once validated, such markers could be easily screened to inform individuals about their risks.
At NeuroTexas Institute, novel GWAS studies are currently in the works. We are currently planning to conduct a genetic screen for markers associated with long-term phantom pain in amputees. The markers identified through this screen should provide deeper insight into the biology of this disease and pave the way for better therapies for amputees afflicted with this neuropathic disease. We are also considering GWA studies related to glioblastoma multiformae, a deadly form of brain cancer.
The future is bright for unraveling the genetic circuits underlying human disease, and ultimately paving the road to a new era of medicine. To learn more about GWA studies, consider reading this recent article from the NeuroTexas Institute Center for Computational Neuroscience.