Frontotemporal dementia research gets $30M from NIH

Kathy Mahdoubi | | Health Imaging | Molecular Imaging

Over the next five years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be rolling out $30 million in funding for research gleaning new information and treatments for frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), the culprit in many cases of early onset dementia, the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) announced this week.

The association is set to receive four of these grants to identify genetic variables associated with FTD and related neurodegenerative disorders and to build clinical networks for the detection and management of the disease.

"The FTD community is extremely gratified to be the recipient of this unprecedented level of funding that we believe is the result of the tremendous momentum under way in FTD science," said Susan Dickinson, executive director of AFTD, in a press release. "What started with FTD's recent inclusion in national research priorities to cure Alzheimer's disease and other dementias by 2025, has now catapulted into what promises to be significant progress in learning about this debilitating neurodegenerative disease."

Three grants worth $5.9 million annually will be coming from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Kathy Mahdoubi

Related Content

Researchers receive grant worth millions to develop portable PET scanner
Why is the US still dependent on foreign medical isotope production?
Downed high-flux reactor could restart sooner than anticipated
Some nuc med departments are already feeling the strain of the isotope shortage
NorthStar opens facility to assist with development and distribution of vital radioisotopes
Lizard saliva could be key to spotting elusive pancreatic tumors

Around the web

Cardiovascular Business
Positron partners with Upbeat Cardiology Solutions to improve cardiac PET/CT access

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

Cardiovascular Business
Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

Cardiovascular Business
‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.