A $6.8 million grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health will help researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine study brain cell interaction to discover new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions, Northwestern officials announced.

The five-year, interdisciplinary grant will allow researchers to work with the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute on four different projects related to lead to loss of memory and cognitive functions.

Researchers want to learn about the causes of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and study possible drug therapies, said project director Linda Van Eldik, a cell and molecular biology professor.

“We want to come up with ways to hopefully treat the disorders,” said Van Eldik, who leads one of the studies.

Jonathan Leis, Feinberg’s executive associate dean for research, said the NIH grant is “very significant and adds to (NU’s) reputation.”

The degeneration of neuron brain cells can lead to a loss of memory or cognitive functions. Members of two Feinberg departments — molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology — are examining the role of glia cells in neuron degeneration.

Glia cells, which help the body respond to injuries, are activated in patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases or other types of brain injuries.

The group will learn how cells function in the human brain by studying cell cultures and laboratory mice, Van Eldik said.

“Cells don’t exist in the brain in isolation,” she said. “They talk to each other in the real brain, and that’s what we’re trying to mimic in our models.”

The spotlight from the NIH grant will not affect researchers’ goals of learning more about diseases and searching for cures, said Lester Binder, a cell and molecular biology professor.

“In terms of Northwestern, it’s business as usual,” Binder said. “This is what we do.”

Jeff Craft, a third-year Feinberg doctoral student working on one of the studies, estimated that about 10 students are involved in the research. He said researching glia cells is “a novel way of treating neurodegenerative disorders that people haven’t really looked at in the past.”

From the study researchers hope to learn:

 how new chemical compounds could make drugs to combat Alzheimer’s,

 how certain proteins appear in different cells in Alzheimer’s and other disorders such as dementia,

 how anti-inflammatory proteins produced by glia cells can keep neurons from dying, and

 how to keep special glia cells from producing toxic enzymes that damage other cells.