PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Degenerative cerebellar diseases are a group of disorders that cause severe disability and can be fatal. There
are currently no known disease-modifying treatments available for use, and there is a critical need to find
treatments that slow disease progression and allow affected individuals to live more functional lives. Balance
and aerobic training show promise as treatments for degenerative cerebellar diseases, but the neural effects of
both training methods have not been thoroughly investigated. It is crucial to understand how the training
impacts the brain, and particularly the cerebellum, in order to determine if one training method is better at
slowing disease progression than the other.
The goal of this proposal is to compare the neural effects of balance versus aerobic training in individuals with
degenerative cerebellar diseases. We hypothesize that aerobic training causes neuroplastic changes within the
cerebellum whereas balance training causes improvements for people with cerebellar degeneration by
impacting brain structures outside the cerebellum. If our hypothesis is true, aerobic training may have more
influence on disease progression than balance training as it directly impacts the cerebellum.
To investigate our hypothesis, various neuroimaging techniques will be used, which will allow the candidate to
gain invaluable expertise in processing and analyzing brain scans. In AIM 1, we will compare cerebellar
volume before and after the participants perform either 6-months of balance or aerobic training. In AIM 2, we
will investigate whether neural changes have clinical significance by correlating cerebellar volume changes
with clinical measures of ataxia. Finally, for AIM 3, we will use diffusion tensor imaging and resting state fMRI
scans to examine how both training methods impact cerebellar microstructure and functional cerebellar
connections. We hope that a detailed understanding of how each training method impacts the cerebellum will
lead to more targeted training regimens with the goal of slowing disease progression of these devastating
diseases.
The candidate has a clinical background in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with an emphasis on
movement disorders. He has a PhD in immunology and will be completing a master’s degree in clinical
research design and statistical analysis. He is committed to a career in ataxia research focusing on the effects
of exercise training on disease progression and plans to use the additional training he receives through this
NIH Career Development Award to support his future work in this field. The candidate has assembled a
multidisciplinary mentoring team to accomplish three training goals: 1) to learn and master neuroimaging
techniques; 2) to become proficient in longitudinal statistical methods; 3) to improve grantsmanship skills to
facilitate ongoing research support. In addition, the candidate will receive further training in career development
and the responsible conduct of research.