Xiong Jiang, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University, has received an award from the National Institute of Mental Health to study "A Novel FMRI Biomarker of Asymptomatic HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders". This R01 award stems from his preliminary research done through a DC D-CFAR pilot award, "Probing alterations of neuronal selectivity in middle-age HIV+ individuals", as well as his work with Manya Magnus, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at GW and Co-Director of the Clinical and Population Sciences Core, in her CTSI/CFAR pilot award, "HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and cognitive control among HIV-infected older adults: a pilot study using MRI among a high risk, community-based sample in DC". His project narrative can be found below:
New NIH Award: Xiong Jiang, PhD
July 1, 2015
While recent medical advances have greatly improved the life span and life quality of individuals with HIV-infection, the prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, or HAND, remains high. There has been increasing pressure to better characterize HAND and to identify the neural targets for behavioral and medical therapies, with the ultimate goal of improving and preserving neurocognitive functions in individuals with HIV-disease. Here we propose to develop and validate fMRI-based non-invasive biomarkers that can quantitatively assess neuronal dysfunction in asymptomatic HIV+ individuals, and predict future risk of progression to symptomatic HAND, with the potential to guide and evaluate early and targeted therapies.