CurePSP Student Fellowships

CurePSP Student Fellowships support students and trainees conducting summer research projects focused on PSP or CBD. The goal of these programs is to encourage trainees to pursue research in this field in an effort to make PSP and CBD a long-term area of research interest and to further our understanding of these diseases.

Applications for the CurePSP Student Fellowship Program are now open. Application instructions and full eligibility guidelines for the Urso Student Fellowship and the Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowship are available here. Applications must be submitted through ProposalCentral by January 31, 2025, at 5pm ET. 

 

URSO Student Fellowship

The URSO Student Fellowship supports students conducting summer research projects focused on PSP, CBD, and related diseases. This program is supported by the Paul and Ruth Urso Memorial Research Fund. The goal of this fellowship program is to encourage students and trainees to pursue research in this field in the hope of making PSP or CBD a long-term area of research interest.. Projects may be in basic, translational, clinical or epidemiological aspects of PSP and CBD.

Program Eligibility

Undergraduate, graduate, and medical students are eligible – as well as medical residents and clinical fellows. Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible for this program. The research must be performed under the supervision of a faculty mentor with expertise in the field. Funds may be budgeted to cover the applicant’s stipend and research related expenses. 

Application Instructions

 

Currently Funded Urso Grants


Mentor: John Crary

Exploring Glial Dysfunction and Genetic Pathways in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Mentor: Ignacio Mata

Exploring the genomic data of PSP-CBD patients from Argentina

Mentor: Truman Gamblin

Impact of Fatty Acid Induction on Formation of PSP and CBD Tau Aggregates

Mentor: Guy Schwartz

The Radiographic Overlap between Parkinsonian Syndromes and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: A Retrospective Chart Review

Mentor: Truman Gamblin

Cracking the phosphorylation code of tau filaments in PSP

Mentor: Tamar Gefen

Differential Vulnerability of White Matter in CBD versus PSP leading to Primary Progressive Aphasia

Previously Funded Urso Grants

Mentor: Naomi Visanji

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy: a disease specific mouse tauopathy model 

Mentor: Stewart Clark

Investigation of the role of non-cholinergic PPTg neurons in a model of PSP 

Mentor: Jonathan Lin

Testing Anti-Tau Properties of Integrated Stress Response Boosters In Vivo 

Mentor: Rohan de Silva

Identifying conformational repertoires of tau that determine disease progression

Mentor: Marco Hefti

Understanding Astrocytic Tau Uptake in PSP

Mentor: Kevin Frank Bieniek

Exploring Increased Expression of DNA Damage Marker Expression in CBD and PSP

Mentor: Kathryn Bowles

Investigating ER-phagy in an iPSC-neuron model of tauopathy

Mentor: Tamar Geffen

Anatomic Selectivity of 4R FTLD-tau in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Mentor: Hrishikesh Kumar

Blood Biomarkers and Neuromorphometry in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Mentor: Zane Jaunmuktane

Identification of spatially resolved and cell type specific molecular signatures in diverse PSP phenotypes

Mentor: Paul Seidler

Small molecule inhibitor development for CBD and PSP tau by experimental-computational studies


The Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowship

The Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowship Endowment supports undergraduate students conducting summer research projects focused on PSP or CBD. The goal of this fellowship program is to encourage undergraduate students to pursue research in this field in an effort to make PSP and CBD a long-term area of research interest and to further our understanding of these diseases. In addition, their important work will aid in increasing the awareness of these rare neurodegenerative diseases with the end goal of a cure. Fellowship projects should have a neuroscience focus and may be in basic, translational, or clinical aspects of PSP or CBD.

Program Eligibility

Undergraduate students are eligible. The research must be performed under the supervision of a faculty mentor with expertise in the field. Funds may be budgeted to cover the applicant’s stipend and research related expenses. 

Application Instructions

Currently Funded Atwood Grants

Mentor: Stewart Clark

Establishing a time course for the decrease in the Midbrain-to-Pons Ratio in hTau rats as a Potential Early Biomarker for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy-Richardson’s Syndrome

Mentor: Jonathan Pierce

Genetic Supressors of Freezing in Dopamine-deficient C. elegans: Potential Therapeutic Targets for PSP and CBD

Mentor: Joseph Rayman

Purification and Biophysical Screening of Proteins Implicated in PSP

Previously Funded Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowships

Mentor: Joseph Rayman 

In Vitro Biophysical Screen for Inhibitors of Proteins Implicated in PSP

Mentor: Carolina Alquezar

Exploring the Impact of Tau Isoforms on Mitochondrial Function: Implications for 4R tauopathies such as PSP and CBD

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