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Mission
The mission of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) is to promote and conduct multidisciplinary clinical and basic research to increase the understanding of the causes and mechanisms leading to brain dysfunction and degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), Motor neuron disease (MND), and related disorders that occur increasingly with advancing age. Implicit in the mission of the CNDR are two overarching goals: 1.) Find better ways to cure and treat these disorders, 2. Provide training to the next generation of scientists.
“My goal for CNDR is not only to collaborate with researchers at Penn and from institutions across the globe with the mutual goal of finding better ways to diagnose and treat neurodegenerative diseases, but also to inspire and encourage the next generation of scientists on the importance of investigating these disorders that occur more frequently with advancing age.” – Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, Director, CNDR
John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD | 1946 - 2022
In loving memory of John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD
Latest Research
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Challenges and Methods in Annotating Natural Speech for Neurolinguistic Research
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Spoken language is central to human communication, influencing cognition, learning, and social interactions. Despite its spontaneous nature, characterized by disfluencies, fillers, self-corrections and irregular syntax, it effectively serves its communicative purpose. Understanding how the brain processes natural language offers valuable insights into the neurobiology of language. Recent neuroscience advancements allow us to study neural processes in response to ongoing speech, requiring...
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Performance of (123)I-ioflupane SPECT striatal binding in dementia with Lewy bodies
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
INTRODUCTION: We aimed to determine whether ^(123)I-ioflupane single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) striatal binding ratio (SBR) correlated with parkinsonian motor symptoms in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and if SBR predicts worsening of parkinsonism over time.
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Impact of cardiometabolic conditions on the progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia: A large cohort study
Monday, September 15, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Hyperlipidemia is primarily associated with AD dementia risk, while type 2 diabetes is the major contributor to vascular dementia and all-cause risk in individuals with MCI.