The University of North Dakota medical school is getting a $1.4 million federal grant to continue research into a molecule that could hold clues to treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and schizophrenia.

The Department of Basic Sciences is overseeing the study of neurotensin, a molecule that activates learning and memory. UND says understanding how those molecules affect neurons in the brain could lead to the development of drugs that could replicate their effects.

Such a drug could help prevent the memory loss that accompanies some neurological diseases.

The three-year grant comes from the National Institutes of Health.