Program Description
This is a clinical and translational fellowship focused on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) within the Clinical Neurosciences Program of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The program emphasizes understanding disease mechanisms, identifying biomarkers, and developing novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders. The fellowship is designed to train future clinician-scientists in neurodegenerative disease research through integrated clinical and laboratory-based investigation. The expected duration of training is 2 to 3 years, depending on the fellow's research interests, career goals, and scope of research activities.
Program Structure
The ALS and FTD Fellowship is organized as a highly collaborative clinical and translational research training program that integrates several laboratories, research units, core facilities, and a shared clinical team within the NINDS Clinical Neurosciences Program. Fellows will have the opportunity to work closely with investigators from the Section of Infections of the Nervous System, the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, the Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Unit, the Quantitative MRI (qMRI) Core Facility, the Mobile Clinical Research Unit, and the Neurodegenerative Disorders Clinic. This structure promotes multidisciplinary training and fosters collaboration across clinical and laboratory-based research environments.
Clinical training is centered in the Neurodegenerative Disorders Clinic, where fellows will gain experience in the evaluation and management of patients with ALS, FTD, and related neurodegenerative disorders. The shared clinical team evaluates research participants enrolled in both natural history studies and investigator-initiated therapeutic trials. Fellows will participate in protocol-based clinical assessments, multidisciplinary care, and longitudinal follow-up of participants, while developing expertise in clinical trial design, outcome measures, and biomarker-driven research.
Research training spans multiple laboratories, research units, and core facilities that investigate the genetic, molecular, cellular, imaging, and immunologic mechanisms underlying ALS and FTD. Fellows will participate in ongoing translational and laboratory-based projects tailored to their interests and career goals. Research participants, biologic samples, and research data collected through clinical protocols are further studied within these laboratories and research units, providing fellows with exposure to the full continuum of translational research from patient evaluation to mechanistic investigation and biomarker discovery.
Integration of clinical and laboratory research is a central component of the fellowship. Fellows and faculty will present ongoing projects and emerging findings during a monthly Neurodegenerative Disorders Seminar, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration and discussion. In addition, each laboratory, research unit, core facility, and the Neurodegenerative Disorders Clinic will conduct independent journal clubs to review current literature, discuss ongoing studies, and foster critical evaluation of research in the field.
Areas of Current Research
- Clinical/Translational Research: Natural history studies; Clinical trial development; Biomarker discovery; Neuroimaging biomarkers
- Laboratory Research: Genomics, transcriptomics; RNA biology; Protein aggregation; Neuroinflammation
- Bioinformatics: NIH computational resources; Multi-omics data analysis
Application Information
Apply to this program through the NIH Graduate Medical Education Application System.