The Raynor Cerebellum Project (RCP) aims to improve the lives of individuals with Cerebellar Disorders in the next seven to ten years, through new research initiatives and the fostering of a research culture of collaboration between labs at multiple institutions across multiple disciplines. The RCP is an experiment in “goal-oriented science,” with success defined by whether participants’ collective work improves patients’ lives, without necessarily needing to know why therapies are working in the time frame we have set. The answers can come later with more research. The RCP is funding truly new research initiatives — not simply a continuation or extension of labs’ current research programs. Investigators must be able to explicitly “connect the dots” from what they propose to RCP’s strategic goal.
The RCP is interested in advancing the quality of cerebellar diagnosis and the understanding of cerebellar disorders through improvements in MRI imaging. To do so, we have supported a team led by Dr. Anke Henning of UT Southwestern and Dr. Ravi Menon at the University of Western Ontario. They will receive $1M over three years to design and construct radiofrequency coils customized for 7T MRI imaging of the cerebellum, brainstem, and cervical spinal cord for Philips and Siemens 7T scanners. They will test the coils in both adult and pediatric patients to determine how much improvement 7T imaging provides relative to 3T imaging. If the coil design is successful, one coil each will be delivered to both Massachusetts General Hospital and the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, and additional funds may be made available to perform both structural and functional analyses of the cerebellum in patients and age-matched healthy controls.
Together, under the leadership of the Governing Board, the RCP plans for over $100 million in funding.
- The RCP’s parent organization — The Once Upon a Time Foundation, a $250 million Foundation based in Fort Worth, Texas — has allocated $30 million to the RCP.
- The RCP anticipates raising an additional $50 million through additional commitments from the Once Upon a Time Foundation as well as building outside partnerships with other funding sources.
