Hi Tim,
I agree with what you said. We should consider Alzforum (Alzheimer
Disease) and come up with a use case that is practical to
neuroscientists. I talked to Gordon Shepherd (who is a neuroscientist
and the PI of SenseLab) about such a use case for our SenseLab task. He
suggested the following use case.
Question: What experimental data is there on the earliest expression of
tangles and plaques in relation to the different integative sites of a
cortical pyramidal neuron?
Answer: Start in NeuronDB (which is a subdatabase of SenseLab) with a
pyramidal cell in the neocortex or the hippocampus and ask what are the
normal membrane properties in different soma-dendritic compartments;
consult annotations and use pubmed links if desired. Then link to
BrainPharm (which is also a subdatabase of SenseLab) for experimental
data from animal models on the early appearance of intracellular tangles
and extracellular plaques related to those properties, for insights into
how the pathology may be impacting normal membrane properties. Consult
annotations and use pubmed if desired. Then link to Alzforum to the
corresponding site(s) for data on genes and descriptions of plaques and
tangles in animal models for correlation with behavioral effects. This
will enhance the effort to identify the earliest effects of AD pathology
on normal membrane properties of vulnerable neurons. BrainPharm will
also identify pharmacological agents that may be effective in humans and
different animal models at delaying or preventing the appearances of the
pathology.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
-Kei
Tim Clark wrote:
Group
I'd like to suggest a broadening of these use cases in two ways.
(1) We have significant involvement (at least for now) from some
people with an outstanding community web resource on Alzheimer
Disease, the Alzforum (www.alzforum.org). It seems a shame not to
talk a little more about Alzheimer disease. I think June Kinoshita
might be willing to offer one or more very practical AD-related use
cases.
There is also the Neurocommons project, with a strong focus on HD.
My group, as well, works on projects in HD, Parkinson's and AD. How
dissimilar are these disorders in terms of the kinds of practical
problems of knowledge organization (and content requirements) faced
by researchers? I maintain, they are not much different.
(2) I suggest we think more about what information would be most
useful to scientists in determining what experiments to do, how to do
them, and how to interpret the results. More practical is better.
Best
Tim
