Welcome to the Other Brain and Nervous System Studies Page

Other Injuries/Injury Prevention

AGE: 18 and older

DURATION: approximately 10 weeks

VISITS: 4

LOCATION: Oakland

COMPENSATION: up to $1100

Adaptive Trial Scheduling in Naming Treatment for Aphasia

Are you 18 or older diagnosed with chronic aphasia? You may be able to participate in a research study evaluating novel anomia treatment to improve long-term retention. Compensation is provided.

DURATION: Up to 12 months

Stroke

AGE: 18 and older

VISITS: Telehealth sessions

COMPENSATION: Up to $1,800

Smart Phone Apps Study II

Do you have a diagnosis of Spina Bifida, Spinal Cord Injury, or Cerebral Palsy? If so, you may be eligible to participate in a study to help develop and evaluate an app suite to support and manage self-care. Compensation may be provided.

Assistive Devices

Chromosomal Disorders

Mobility Aids

VISITS: Multiple visits/sessions

And 3 more areas

AGE: 18 - 99

LOCATION: Either in the office, your home, or by phone

COMPENSATION: -Participants in the mHealth group will not receive monetary compensation but will receive free use of the smartphone for the duration of the study. Participants in the control group will receive $25.00 for full completion of each study session, or $100.00 if they complete the entire study.

Muscle degeneration in ALS

Do you have ALS? You may be eligible for a research study at the University of Pittsburgh recruiting healthy volunteers and motor neuron disease volunteers for a study that aims to determine how muscle types impacts degeneration in human Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Muscles of the upper and lower limb will be evaluated and compared.

DURATION: 3 hours/session

AGE: 18-80

VISITS: 1 required and 17 optional sessions

LOCATION: UPMC Presbyterian Hospital - Oakland

COMPENSATION: parking provided for study visits

CHARM Study

Are you a relatively healthy adult between the ages of 40 and 59? If so, you may be able to participate in a research study to help learn more about how the brain relates to heart health. Compensation provided.

DURATION: About 6 hours

VISITS: 2 visits

LOCATION: Old Engineering Hall and Bridge MRI Center - Oakland

COMPENSATION: up to $130 + parking or transportation expenses.

REGISTRY

VISITS: None Required

Movement Disorders Research Registry

Do you have a movement disorder? If so, you may be able to participate in the Movement Disorders Registry. This registry is a list of individuals who are interested in being contacted about future research studies.

LOCATION: By email or phone

Enroll-HD

Are you the spouse, caregiver, or family member of someone affected by Huntington’s disease (HD)? If so, you may be able to participate in a research study that is collecting data in an effort to improve understanding and treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD).

Huntington Disease

VISITS: Once per year

LOCATION: Kaufmann Medical Building Oakland

COMPENSATION: Travel Reimbursement

Smartphone Self-Care for Chronic Conditions

Do you have spina bifida, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or cerebral palsy? Researchers at Pitt are looking for adults with these chronic conditions to give feedback on new smartphone apps designed to make self-care more manageable. Compensation provided.

Assistive Devices

Chromosomal Disorders

Mobility Aids

And 2 more areas

LOCATION: Multiple clinic locations in East End, or at home

DURATION: Varies

COMPENSATION: $25 per completed session

Physiology of normal and disordered hearing- Hearing loss

The Systems Neuroscience of Auditory Perception Lab is seeking participants aged 18+ with hearing loss for a research study on how our ears and brains help us communicate in situations with background sounds, like crowded restaurants and busy streets. Participation involves visits for hearing testing and brainwave measurements, and completion of online tasks at home. Compensation is provided.

Hearing Loss

DURATION: not more than 3 hours/visit

AGE: 18 and older

VISITS: 2-4 visits to the lab, and an at home component

LOCATION: Oakland

COMPENSATION: $16/hour

REGISTRY

VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Research Registry— Adults with Aphasia

Do you have aphasia caused by a stroke or other brain injury? If so, you may be able to join a research registry to help learn more about speech and language problems and to identify volunteers for future communication disorders research studies. There is no compensation for joining this registry, but individual research studies you may be contacted about in the future may offer compensation.

Other Injuries/Injury Prevention

Speech and Language Disorders

Stroke

VISITS: At least 1 visit

LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System

Telehealth and Memory Study

Are you a breast cancer survivor who completed chemotherapy one to five years ago? Do you have problems with your memory, concentration, and/or attention? You may be able to participate in a research study to test two treatments that may help breast cancer survivors improve cognitive function. This study involves 8 weeks of therapy completed online or by mobile phone, and optional MRI scanning.

Breast Cancer

Featured Research

Remote Research

DURATION: 14 hours over 9 months

LOCATION: Online (optional MRI visits at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital – Oakland)

COMPENSATION: Compensation provided for optional MRI scans only

Refinement of Brain Mechanisms Underlying the Development - Adult Arm

Are you a healthy 18-26 year old? You may be eligible for a research study to help us understand how the normal brain “grows-up.” Compensation is provided.

Featured Research

Healthy Volunteer

VISITS: 6 in-person study visits

Precision Medicine

AGE: 18-26

DURATION: 36 months

LOCATION: Loeffler Building – Oakland

COMPENSATION: Up to $225

HCP2 – Connectomics in Brain Aging (CoBrA) Study

Are you 50 years of age or older? You may be able to participate in a brain imaging study. We want to look at how your environment changes the way your brain works as you age.

Alzheimer's Disease

Healthy Aging

Healthy Volunteer

AGE: 50 years old and older

DURATION: 6 years

VISITS: 3 visits every two years

LOCATION: Oakland

COMPENSATION: up to $300

Brain Development Research Study – Ages 18-26

Are you a healthy 18-26 year old? You may be able to participate in a study to understand how our brain changes as we develop into adults. This study involves completing questionnaires, playing computer games, and undergoing brain and EEG scans. Compensation is provided.

Alzheimer's Disease

Balance Disorders

Brain and Neurological Disorders

Concussion

And 6 more areas

AGE: 18-26

DURATION: 36 months

VISITS: 3

LOCATION: Loeffler Building & UPMC Presbyterian Hospital - Oakland

COMPENSATION: Up to $275

Spinal Cord Stimulation for the treatment of motor deficits in people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Are you affected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy? You may be able to participate in a research study using spinal cord stimulation (SCS), an approved clinical therapy for pain syndromes that do not respond to drugs. Unexpectedly, SCS has shown the ability to promote the recovery of leg motor function in people with complete motor paralysis in consequence of spinal cord injury years after injury.

DURATION: 9 months

VISITS: 35 visits

LOCATION: UPMC Presbyterian

COMPENSATION: $1750

Memory and Attention Training for Individuals with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST)

Have you been diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)? Have you been taking a tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy (Imatinib) for at least one year? You may be able to participate in a study to examine an intervention to treat changes in memory and concentration in people with GIST. Study participation involves completing an 8-week intervention using the computer and phone.

Colorectal Cancer

Other Cancers

Remote Research

LOCATION: Videoconference & phone

DURATION: 12 weeks

Other Bones, Joints, and Muscles

A Sensorimotor Microelectrode Brain-Machine Interface

Do you have little or no ability to use your hands due to a cervical spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, or spinal stroke? You may be eligible to take part in a research study involving brain-machine interface (BMI) technology or brain-computer interface (BCI). BCI/BMI technology uses signals recorded from the brain to control devices such as a computer or a robotic limb. Compensation provided.

Assistive Devices

Featured Research

Mobility Aids

And 2 more areas

AGE: 22 - 70

DURATION: 25 months

VISITS: Multiple

LOCATION: UPMC Presbyterian Hospital – Oakland

COMPENSATION: Up to $14,810 & travel costs

Dementia with Lewy Bodies Consortium (DLBC)

Do you have diagnosed or suspected dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), mild cognitive impairment that may progress to DLB, or Parkinson’s disease dementia? If so, you may be able to participate in a research study to help learn more about DLB and find better ways to identify and treat the disease in the future. Compensation is provided.

DURATION: Up to 10 years

Parkinson's Disease

AGE: 40 - 90

VISITS: 12-20 visits

LOCATION: UPMC Montefiore Hospital, UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, & Kaufmann Medical Building

COMPENSATION: Varies From $50 to $200 per visit over the 10 year study duration + parking reimbursement

PROMOTE Study

Do you have a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or a related disorder? If so, you may be able to participate in a research study to help better understand the factors that explain the differences among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Study involves answering questionnaires, reviewing medical records and participating in other optional research activities.

DURATION: Up to 30 years

VISITS: Multiple

LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh - Oakland