NeURoscience | Vol 12 | 2022

NEUROSCIENCE University of Rochester | Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Vol. 12 - 2022

ON IMPACT:

Predicting prolonged concussion recovery and the risk of repeated head hits PG 2

F R O M T H E D I R EC TO R ’ S D E S K

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rang in 2022 like many of you, hopeful that we were edging closer to pre-pandemic normalcy, but facing the reality that we still have a way to go before we conquer this insidious virus.

I am all the more grateful, given the extreme challenges of these past months, for all of our incredible scientists, students, and staff who are the engine of our institute, but am also a bit bewildered that another year has raced by.

The resiliency that the scientific and medical communities has demonstrated this past year is a tremendous source of pride and I am looking forward to what’s to come and the meaningful research I know will continue throughout 2022.

John J. Foxe, Ph.D. Kilian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Chair in Neuroscience

Director, Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience

Professor & Chair, Department of Neuroscience

We had a record-breaking year for the annual Del Monte Pilot Grant Program – nearly $900,000 was awarded to 20 faculty members from eight departments in 2021.

I cannot say enough about the dedicated philanthropic support that maintains this program, or about our faculty who continue to make meaningful discoveries with this backing. Since 2015, the program has directly generated a truly stunning $37 million in external research support.

In this issue, you’ll read about cuttingedge concussion research of the Emergency Medicine laboratories featured in our cover story. Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian and his team were recently awarded a grant that aims to better understand what happens in the brain of kids who suffer with long-lasting concussion symptoms. As a parent of three, like you, I have worried about the impact of head hits during the pivotal years of brain growth and development in childhood.

On the cover From left: Kian Merchant-Borna and Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D., stand with UR football helmets equipped with sensors that measure impacts to the head. They recently patented a method to assess risk of brain changes following exposure to head impacts.

Photo: John Schlia Photography

Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Executive Committee John Foxe, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Neuroscience Bradford Berk M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Robert Dirksen, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology Diane Dalecki, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering Jennifer Harvey, M.D., Chair, Department of Imaging Sciences

Working with kids seems to be a theme in this issue. Dr. Samuel Mackenzie, a senior instructor in Neurology and Neuroscience, is our featured faculty member. He is investigating the development of genetargeted therapies for neuromuscular diseases. He also shares why it is important to find joy in science.

Our student spotlight shines on Bryan Redmond, an MD/PhD student in his second year with the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Bryan is a born change-maker.

Along with being one of the first student members of the Neuroscience Diversity Commission, he has also recently been awarded a fellowship to support his work mentoring young men from an underserved community in the city of Rochester.

In this new year we will welcome home one of our own, Dr. Nathan A. Smith, Ph.D. (’13), the first Black graduate of the Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) who will return this spring as an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion in Research and Research Education. Nathan is dedicated to creating a more diverse and robust scientific community, leading by example, as he is a truly gifted neuroscientist. We look forward to him rejoining our team and continuing to transform who we are as an institute and what we know about the brain.

In Science,

John J. Foxe, Ph.D.

Robert Holloway, M.D., M.P.H., Chair, Department of Neurology Paige Lawrence, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Environmental Medicine Hochang (Ben) Lee, M.D., Chair, Department of Psychiatry Shawn Newlands, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., Chair, Department of Otolaryngology Webster Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Department of Neurosurgery Duje Tadin, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

NEUROSCIENCE Editor/Writer Kelsie Smith Hayduk Kelsie_Smith-Hayduk@ urmc.rochester.edu Contributors Mark Michaud Lori Barrette Emily Hotaling Feature Photography John Schlia Photography Designer Beth Carr

NEWS BRIEFS

Anxiety cues found in the brain despite safe environment Anxiety disorders may be more than a lack of awareness of the environment or ignorance of safety, but rather that individuals cannot control their feelings and behavior.

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Benjamin SuarezJimenez, Ph.D., was first author of a study that published these findings in Communications Biology. “The patients with an anxiety disorder could rationally say, ‘I’m in a safe space,’ but we found their brain was behaving as if it was not,” said Suarez-Jimenez.

Using fMRI, the researchers observed the brain activity of volunteers with general and social anxiety as they navigated a virtual reality game of picking flowers.

Half of the meadow had flowers without bees, the other half had flowers with bees that would sting them – as simulated by a mild electrical stimulation to the hand.

Researchers found all study participants could distinguish between the safe and dangerous areas, however, brain scans revealed volunteers with anxiety had increased insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation – indicating their brain was associating a known safe area to danger or threat. The brain differences were the only differences seen in these patients. For example, sweat responses, a proxy for anxiety, which was also measured, failed to reveal any clear differences.

Brief period of ‘blindness’ is essential for vision

How the brain understands one voice in a noisy crowd

Researchers further cement the evidence for the important role tiny eye movements play in our ability to see letters, numbers, and objects at a distance. Researchers Michele Rucci, Ph.D., professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Janis Intoy, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate in Rucci’s lab, published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and found that the very center of gaze undergoes drastic and rapid modulations every time we redirect our gaze, causing a brief loss of vision. During that saccades – rapid movement of the eye between fixation points – perception is suppressed and the visual system stabilizes perception. Future research will determine more about this phenomenon and how humans control eye movements to balance the saccadic suppression with the visual enhancement that follows.

New research finds a clue to how our brain is able to focus our attention on a single speaker in a crowded room with many people talking. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, reveals that the brain is actually taking an extra step to understand the words coming from the speaker being listened to, and not taking that step with the other words swirling around the conversation.

Using EEG brainwave recordings, the researchers had participants listen to two stories and found that the story they were instructed to pay attention to was converted into linguistic units known as phonemes – these are units of sound that can distinguish one word from another – while the other story was not.

“That conversion is the first step towards understanding the attended story,” said Edmund Lalor, Ph.D., who led the study.

“Sounds need to be recognized as corresponding to specific linguistic categories like phonemes and syllables, so that we can ultimately determine what words are being spoken – even if they sound different – for example, spoken by people with different accents or different voice pitches.”

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F E AT U R E

From left: Kian MerchantBorna, Kourtney Korczak, Sarah Dermady, Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D.

Predicting prolonged concussion recovery and the risk of repeated head hits An estimated 3 million people in the United States are diagnosed with a concussion every year. The majority of those concussions are caused by sports-related injuries. Most people recover quickly, but for a third, it can take three or more months to recuperate. “The question is ­– can we identify those people early after an injury?” said Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D., professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). “If we could know – pretty precisely – which concussed individuals were destined for prolonged recovery, we would be in a much better position to test what medicines or therapies work to shorten the duration of recovery. We want to focus our research on the people who take a long time to get better; then we can start to figure out what medicine works and what therapy works, what works in improving concussion recovery.” Bazarian has been studying concussions for more than a decade and is currently working

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on a research project to better understand how concussions impact kids.

The study, which is funded by a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), will test ways to predict which kids will have symptoms, such as headache, dizziness, and trouble concentrating, for three or more Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D. months after a concussion.

Understanding how the mechanisms of a developing brain are impacted by concussion is critical, and a goal of the multisite study involving the University of Rochester, the University of California, Los Angeles, and four other institutions. The study is

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

Bazarian shows Korczak a device used to draw blood from kids in a less painful way.

focusing on children between the ages of 11 and 18. It will seek to identify a set of biomarkers that could predict which kids will develop persistent symptoms after a concussion.

Ultimately, researchers aim to develop an algorithm to help with the diagnosis and treatment of concussed kids while hoping to also make way for future therapies that could help kids recover from concussions faster. “The biomarkers that are going to be predictive of prolonged recovery are likely to be the ones that best detect disturbed cellular and physiologic function, so that's where the blood tests come in,” Bazarian said.

BLOOD AS A WINDOW TO THE BRAIN Blood has already proven to be beneficial in diagnosing a concussion. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved a blood test called the Banyan Brain Trauma Indicator®. URMC was a site for one of the test’s clinical trials and Bazarian was the lead author of a study that appeared in the journal The Lancet Neurology that was used as support for the first blood-based biomarkers of traumatic brain injury in the

United States. Kian MerchantBorna, research faculty in Emergency Medicine, managed the trial that helped lead to this test, which can be used up to 12 hours after a head injury to detect UCH-L1 and GFAP proteins that are present in the blood soon after a hit to the head. Merchant-Borna works with industry partners to bring Kian Merchant-Borna tools – like blood tests – to market, assisting with bridging the gap in concussion diagnosis, brain monitoring, and recovery. Recently, he assisted with getting FDA approval for a disposable set of electrodes used to measure EEG – brainwave activity – that helps clinicians diagnose a brain bleed. He and Bazarian’s relationship has been instrumental in the translation of concussion research into technology that helps with therapeutics and care.

To do this research, Bazarian and Merchant-Borna’s labs work with University of Rochester student-athletes and patients

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From left: Dermady and Bazarian review results on a point of care device that tests for proteins to diagnose brain injury.

in the Strong Memorial Hospital Emergency Department. “We meet with the subjects and make sure they understand our research and its larger implications,” said Kourtney Korczak, research coordinator for the Bazarian and Merchant-Borna labs.

“We then collect blood samples and other neurocognitive data from those who chose to participate.”

They follow these subjects through their recovery, evaluating them along the way. “The subjects are often in their most vulnerable state when we first meet,” said Sarah Dermady, research manager for the Bazarian and Merchant-Borna labs.

“But we can make powerful connections while creating a gateway for the enhancement of concussion treatment and diagnoses for the future.”

Beyond the initial diagnosis a person is generally monitored based on what symptoms they have – subjective markers like patient-reported symptoms such as headaches, nausea, or light sensitivity. “Not knowing what is happening in the brain can affect an individual’s quality of life in the long term,” said Merchant-Borna. “Concussion recovery can be difficult to track and symptoms often dissipate before the brain is fully healed.”

RISK OF REPEATED HITS TO THE HEAD Repeated head hits are a silent danger. Each blow can compound the one before, sometimes without symptoms to warn of a growing injury. In cases where a person’s occupation or activity – like members of the military or athletes – puts them at risk for repeated head hits, the potential to develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a serious neurodegenerative

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disorder, increases. CTE is a devastating disease that causes debilitating symptoms and, in many cases, premature death.

It is also a disease the patient will never know they have because it can only be diagnosed by an autopsy. “We have no way to know who is potentially headed in that direction,” said Bazarian. “Blood-based biomarkers have the potential to be a practical way to monitor brain health in those exposed to clinically silent, repetitive head hits. This might allow early detection of subtle brain injury that is reversible with rest, before it progresses to an irreversible neurodegenerative stage.”

When a brain is injured some of its cellular elements, like neurons and astrocytes, initially release UCH-L1 and GFAP proteins. The injury also causes a perturbation of the blood-brain barrier, allowing those proteins, and others, to enter the bloodstream. Bazarian believes this leak could be key to monitoring brain health in the future. He is currently investigating how these proteins show up in the blood and if these protein levels can be elevated without concussion symptoms and be used to show biochemical evidence of cellular disruption. This could allow clinicians to detect a looming injury before concentration and memory symptoms are present. “Although advanced forms of MRI can also detect subtle brain changes with repeated head hits, they just aren’t practical to perform routinely in a surveillance fashion to monitor brain health. So we are thinking that, for those exposed to repeated head impacts, blood biomarkers are a practical solution to monitoring brain health on a regular basis and for providing an early indication when brain health might be threatened.”

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

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Blood-based biomarkers have the potential to be a practical way to monitor brain health in those exposed to clinically silent, repetitive head hits.”

From left: Merchant-Borna and Dermady

The amount of protein is minimal, but its presence is significant – especially when someone is at risk of repeated hits to the head. In a healthy brain these proteins are cleared out by the glymphatic system – the brain’s unique process of removing waste – but, if head hits happen too close together, the brain’s “drainage system” can become overwhelmed and put the brain on course for permanent damage. “We know that it doesn't take much to disrupt the structure and function of the brain. But we don't have a practical way to monitor people for that,” said Bazarian.

“People who are at risk for repeated head hits – athletes, military service members, victims of repeated domestic assault – are the ones who are most at risk to have undetected permanent damage,” Merchant-Borna said. In May 2020, he and Bazarian were awarded a U.S. patent for an algorithm that can be used to assess the risk of changes and injury to brain white matter following repeated exposure to head impacts.

This method was developed as part of their ongoing research to better understand what happens to the brains of athletes, particularly football players, who undergo repeated exposure.

“The partnership we have with the Department of Athletics

Merchant-Borna and Korczak check the accelerometers inside a football helmet. These sensors record the number, direction, and force of head blows during each practice and in games.

at the University of Rochester, including the support of both George VanderZwaag, the executive director of athletics, and Eric Rozen, the head athletic trainer, has been invaluable to our research programs,” said Merchant-Borna. Their labs work with the University of Rochester football team, outfitting players with helmets containing accelerometers – sensors that record the number, direction, and force of head blows during each practice and in games. Participating student-athletes also have brain scans and blood draws before and after the season.

“This gives us valuable information about exposure and we can look further into the players who have been diagnosed with a concussion as well as those who haven’t but who we can see have had repeated head hits,” said MerchantBorna. Through this work, researchers have identified a single region of the brain – the midbrain From left: Bazarian and Merchant-Borna – that can be used to examine the impact of a concussion or repeated hits to the head. Changes in the integrity of the neurons in this brain region correlated with the number of times that a player’s head was hit, side to side or back and front.

The amount of research being done in this realm continues to develop. The NFL is expanding its collection of data on head hits by putting sensors in the mouth guards of players at four major universities. The same high-tech mouth guard sensors are currently used by 10 NFL teams. “People aren’t going to stop playing sports, riding bikes, getting into motor vehicles,” said Merchant-Borna. “There is a lot more momentum and awareness that repeated non-concussive head hits can affect someone in the long term and affect an individual's quality of life, productivity, and success.”

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F A C U LT Y P R O F I L E

Currently, I’m working closely with Charles Thornton, M.D., who has had a long, distinguished career studying myotonic dystrophy. Myotonic dystrophy is a little different mechanistically in that it’s a trinucleotide repeat disorder affecting splicing of several downstream targets, but we think it’s amenable to a lot of the same strategies of gene and RNA manipulation. We’re collaborating with another lab to make a novel mouse model of this disease that, in genetic terms, would be the closest thing to what we see in humans. I was recently awarded a K12 career development award from the NIH to characterize this model. I’m also working to see if we can reverse some of the disease manifestations in this mouse by treating it with a promising therapeutic compound.

Samuel MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D.

Q&A with Samuel Mackenzie, M.D., Ph.D. Samuel Mackenzie, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience in July 2021 as a senior instructor in Neurology and Neuroscience. He recently completed his child neurology residency at the University of Michigan and a neuromuscular fellowship at The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in the development of gene-targeted therapies for neuromuscular diseases.

Tell us about your research.

My research is directly related to my clinical work. I take care of patients with neuromuscular diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, myotonic dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and different limb-girdle muscular dystrophies.

These are all conditions that typically involve some kind of gene misspelling or deletion, and as a result, a particular protein involved in nerve or muscle function is not working properly or missing outright. My goal is to develop treatments that would replace or fix those proteins.

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How did you become interested in your field of study?

While working on my Masters at the University of Delaware I began to segue into medicine. I had been a middle-distance runner in college and was doing graduate work in exercise science, thinking I would go in more of a physiology route, but ended up working on a project with kids who had hemiplegic cerebral palsy. I enjoyed the dynamic of working with the patients and their families and also began to appreciate the complexity of human movement. I was fascinated by the whole process of how a thought in the brain manifests as a physical action and what can happen if something goes awry in that pathway.

Why is it important for you to do research along with your clinical work?

I don’t make a big distinction between my research and clinical work. I believe that research is the best way to make a big impact on the conditions that we treat, but it’s also so rewarding to help kids with neuromuscular diseases using the treatments we already have available. I was in residency when the first systemic gene therapy was approved by the FDA for spinal muscular atrophy. It was a huge lift to get that treatment developed, but all of that work has paid off. A whole population of kids that had been dying of pulmonary complications on ventilators is now able to live more or less normal lives, if we can diagnose and treat them early enough.

It’s been so powerful to see how life changing that therapy was and is for families.

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

What brought you to the University of Rochester?

In one word, it was the support. It was clear from day one that everyone here, Charles included, was committed to helping me do what I love doing and grow as a successful clinician-scientist. Rochester has a strong clinical enterprise in neuromuscular medicine and neurology as a whole. On the basic science side, there is a lot of cutting-edge research happening. I’m really interested in tapping into both of worlds and forming collaborations across disciplines.

Do you have a favorite piece of advice?

It’s important to make sure your science has meaning and that you find joy in what you do. It is easy to get caught up in the race for more publications or getting your work in a highprestige journal, but knowing you’re answering an important question is always going to matter the most. That said, feel free to ask me again in 10 years when my Ro1 application misses the pay line.

A gift of honor and support for autism research Robert Fisher, D.D.S., ’76, ’80D (Pdc), understands the challenges that families can face in raising children with intellectual and developmental This was a disabilities (IDD). Dr. Fisher and his wife, Denise, are parents to three children, including their middle son, Andrew, who was diagnosed with autism just over unique opportunity the age of two. Now an adult, Andrew received specialized care throughout his to not only support childhood.

Dr. Fisher recently learned about the neuroscience and autism/IDD research the University, but efforts led by John Foxe, Ph.D., director of the Ernest J. Del Monte Institute honor my son.” for Neuroscience. As members of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society, the Fishers had already committed to a fiveyear pledge to support Del Monte, but were eager to more directly support this research, and link Andrew’s name with something positive and meaningful for the autistic community.

“I chose to attend the University because of its strength in the sciences,” says Dr. Fisher. “Years later, when I learned our interests aligned in autism research, I was willing to do anything to help Dr. Foxe and his team remain top-tier.”

When Andrew was a young adult, the Fishers purchased a home for him to live in semi-independently. Rather than deeding the home to family members after Andrew passes away, the Fishers decided to set up a bequest intention through their estate plans to donate the home to the University. The proceeds from the sale of the home will establish an endowed fund in Andrew’s name, supporting autism and IDD research in perpetuity and creating a special legacy for the Fisher family.

“This was a unique opportunity to not only support the University, but honor my son,” says Dr. Fisher. “It’s gratifying to know that our gift will advance research that will help more families around the world.”

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S T U D E N T S P OT L I G H T

Bryan Redmond is a second year in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and fourth year in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Redmond graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana with a B.S. in psychology.

Redmond’s research interest lies in the visual deficits experienced following optical lobe stroke. He is currently working in the lab of Krystel Huxlin, Ph.D., investigating whether neurons in undamaged areas of the visual circuit can be stimulated to restore vision following stroke. “There are no gold standard therapies for helping these patients recover their vision,” Redmond said. “If you have a motor stroke, you go to rehab, and keep training a muscle until you regain function. Patients with visual stroke are taught compensatory eye movements to make up for the blind field segment, or they are prescribed glasses with special lenses. These options teach patients to cope with their deficiency. We hope to develop a way to help them recover.”

Redmond is also motivated to use his academic experience to help create a pipeline for future scientists of color. He is one of the original members of the Neuroscience Diversity Commission. “I am compelled to alleviate some of the systemic issues persons of color face in science and to improve the experience of those who come after me,” said Redmond. “I have this fire, this internal motivation, to really be a changemaker. And being around others who also have this passion, like my counterparts on the Diversity Commission, keeps me motivated. It keeps my foot on the gas pedal when it comes to doing the work.”

From left: Bryan Redmond, Celia McIntosh, DNP, Malik Sams, M.D., and Treyc Terry, M.D., volunteer for the medical education program developed by Redmond at UPREP.

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Bryan Redmond

In November 2021, Redmond was selected as a Diverse Medical Scholars Program Fellow by the United Health Foundation/National Medical Fellowships organization. The honor includes a $7,000 grant that will support a medical education program Redmond has developed in partnership with University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men (UPREP), a charter school in Rochester, N.Y. Redmond is using the students’ affinity for sports as a scaffold for interest in careers in health care and options in higher education. His mentors for this program are Malik Sams, M.D., and Lynette Froula, M.D., with Emergency Medicine, and Walter Larkin, Jr., CEO of UPREP. “A program like this gives students an opportunity to consider how their love for sports can transfer into a meaningful career. Alongside other health care professionals, we discuss topics like careers in medicine, nutrition, and preventable diseases. I think a lot of the reformation of issues observed in the community can be tackled early within the classroom. If you can educate people and teach them how to be better persons, I think they go out and become better citizens, and lead more meaningful and fulfilling lives.”

Redmond stands with a fellow NGP student and the NEUROCITY scholars during a group event in the summer of 2021. NEUROCITY is a Neuroscience Diversity Commission program run in partnership with The City College of New York.

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

NEWS BRIEFS

New research points to mercury’s long-term effects Methylmercury (MeHg) is a well-known neurotoxin that can impact brain development, particularly in utero.

A series of new studies from researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center indicate that exposure may disrupt the early development of the connections between muscles and the brain, which could lead to motor control problems later in life.

The new research comes from the lab of Matthew Rand, Ph.D., with the Department of Environmental Medicine, and appears in the journals Neurotoxicology and Teratology and Toxicological Sciences. It was conducted in the fruit fly Drosophilia, a longestablished and important research tool in neuroscience because it enables researchers to study the entire nervous system. The researchers found that when fruit fly larva were exposed to MeHg, it impacted the early formation of flight muscles and ultimately impaired flight ability when the flies reached adulthood. They identified a gene called Nlg1 that encodes a protein found in muscles that plays an important role in forming the connections between muscles and neurons, known as the neuromuscular junction. The Nlg1 gene expression is altered when exposed to MeHg during the larva stage.

Software uses selfies to detect early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease Machine learning lets Rochester researchers accurately identify signs of the neurological disease by analyzing facial muscles. Ehsan Hoque, Ph.D., associate professor of Computer Science at the University of Rochester, and collaborators developed algorithms to analyze brief videos, including short clips while taking selfies, to detect subtle movements in facial muscles that are not visible to the naked eye. The study, published in Nature Digital Medicine, found this software can then predict with remarkable accuracy whether a person who takes a selfie is likely to develop Parkinson’s disease; it is as reliable as current technology used to make a similar prediction such as expensive, wearable digital biomarkers that monitor motor symptoms.

Multiple sclerosis drug improves memory in mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found that glatiramer acetate, a prescription drug currently used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis, improved memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This research extends our information about glatiramer acetate’s potential use in Alzheimer’s disease,” said M. Kerry O’Banion, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neuroscience and senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience. “This isn’t a cure, but it could be a step in the right direction for a treatment to slow the symptoms of this debilitating disease.”

Using a mouse model, researchers found changes in microglia – part of the brain’s immune system – and improvements in cognitive behavior when glatiramer acetate was used. These changes were associated with less amyloid plaques and modifications to tau pathology – a protein found in neurodegenerative diseases – in the brain, indicating that molecular hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease had been impacted.

Previous studies have found that glatiramer acetate can alter brain pathology in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models, but the exact mechanisms that are impacted in the brain are still unknown.

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Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Ian Dickerson, Ph.D., and Michael Schrlau, Ph.D., of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering have received a U.S. patent for technology designed to accelerate development of cell Ian Dickerson, Ph.D. therapies for cancer and other biotherapies. The technique provides a less toxic alternative to standard gene transfer techniques by using an array of carbon nanotubes to deliver DNA into primary neurons, immune cells, and stem cells. The initial research was supported in part by a Schmitt Program in Michael Schrlau, Ph.D. Integrative Neuroscience pilot award from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience.

A primary neuron growing on a bed of carbon nanotubes.

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