neuroscience Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys

Tag: neuroscience

Institute News

Scientists and artists unite in unique San Diego Art Institute exhibit

AuthorMonica May
Date

February 21, 2020

Neuroscientist LuLin Jiang and artist Becky Guttin pose next to Guttin’s installation, an allegory of Alzheimer’s in progress. Photo credit: Tim Hardy Photography.

What happens when scientists and artists connect? A powerful new exhibit at the San Diego Art Institute unites these seemingly separate worlds—attracting nearly 1,000 visitors to the show’s opening reception on Saturday, February 8.

Drawing from her lifelong love of science, curator Chi Essary paired 16 local artists with scientists from San Diego research institutions to create the show. LuLin Jiang, PhD, a neuroscientist at Sanford Burnham Prebys, was matched with Becky Guttin, an artist who specializes in sculpture, drawing, jewelry and more. 

“This project interested me because of the many parallels between art and research,” says Jiang. “As a scientist, I’ve always seen my role as bringing an invisible truth to light. I also welcomed the opportunity to help more people connect to science that one day may have a positive impact on their life.” 

The two met more than a year ago to discuss Jiang’s research into the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease. They had their work cut out for them: Jiang’s research takes her deep into the unseen realm of brain cells and molecules. 

Guttin described the inspiration behind her piece. 

“I read and reread my notes. I remembered hearing the words ‘dirt,’ ‘clean’ and ‘dust’ repeated, referring to beta amyloid accumulating in the brain,” says Guttin. “I realized that instead of buying new materials, I needed something that was not new but had dirty residues from past lives.” 

Guttin focused on recycled plates from printing shops—their ink still visible. She contrasted the gray plates with fresh green grass and a branching, neuron-like tree, creating a stunning installation that is an allegory of Alzheimer’s in progress. Symbols of life, growth and degeneration are represented throughout.

The piece spoke to many individuals who attended the opening-night reception. 

“Many people told me their personal stories about losing loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease and wondered if we will ever find a cure,” says Jiang. “This experience left me even more motivated to continue my research to find treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.” 

The installation is on display in the Illumination exhibit until May 3, 2020. The show is free and open to the public.

Institute News

Top neuroscientists gather at Sanford Burnham Prebys’ annual symposium

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 18, 2019

Symposium organizers Jerold Chun (fourth from right), Randal Kaufman (second from left), Barbara Ranscht (third from right) and Huaxi Xu (far left), pose with the speakers

A mother who no longer remembers her son. A daughter who took doctor-prescribed pain medication and slipped into addiction. A father who has trouble grasping a pen and eventually becomes unable to walk. Neurological disorders are some of the most painful and complex conditions our society faces today. Yet much about the brain remains unknown, hindering our ability to help people with these disorders.

To help shed light on the brain’s mysteries, on November 1, 2019, more than 250 neuroscientists gathered at Sanford Burnham Prebys’ one-day symposium to share their latest discoveries. Organized by professors Jerold Chun, MD, PhD; Randal Kaufman, PhD; Barbara Ranscht, PhD; and Huaxi Xu, PhD, the event attracted scientists from around the world eager to learn more about biological clues that are leading to effective therapies. Read the full list of the invited speakers and their talks.

“Nearly every day we read about the toll neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, mental health disorders and more take on our society,” said Kristiina Vuori, MD, PhD, president of Sanford Burnham Prebys, in her introductory address. “Our symposium brings together scientists at the frontiers of brain research who share their latest discoveries to open new paths toward new and better treatments.”

More than 50 million Americans are affected by neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, addiction and more, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Most of these conditions are not well addressed by current medicines.

At the symposium, world-renowned scientists from Stanford University, Mount Sinai, University of Vienna and other top-tier institutes gave talks describing their strategies to uncover the molecular basis of brain disorders and how these discoveries are advancing potential therapies. A national plan to address Alzheimer’s and other dementia types was described by Eliezer Masliah, MD, the National Institute of Aging’s director of the Division of Neuroscience.

“This was my first scientific conference, and it was perfect for learning about a wide range of cutting-edge brain research,” said attendee Jaclyn Beck, a PhD student at UC Irvine who studies the role of the brain’s immune cells, called microglia, in Alzheimer’s disease. “I have several pages of notes from the talks detailing findings I want to investigate and people I want to contact.”

For the past 40 years, our Institute has invited leading experts on one scientific topic to share their latest research at an annual symposium. By encouraging connection and collaboration, we hope to inspire insights that improve human health. The 41st annual symposium will take place in November 2020 and focus on the biology of organelles, specialized pouches within cells that carry out critical functions such as generating power and breaking down waste, and its role in health and disease.

Institute News

Attacking Alzheimer’s disease by controlling toxic proteins

AuthorBill Stallcup, PhD
Date

August 25, 2017

Alzheimer's disease - neurons with amyloid plaques shutterstock_111506315

The formation of amyloid-b plaques (aggregates of the amyloid-b protein) in the brain is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, a pathological disorder in which the death of neurons leads to dementia. Although the details involved in this process are still highly debated, many researchers agree that excessive levels of amyloid b protein (Ab for short) lie at the root of the disease. Accordingly, much research is currently focused on determining the cause of Ab build-up.

Huaxi Xu, PhD, professor and Jeanne & Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Neuroscience at SBP, explains that, “Ab is a fragment derived from a larger protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). The toxic Ab fragment is produced by the action of enzymes that operate inside the cell. In contrast, the action of enzymes that operate outside the cell produce a different set of non-toxic fragments of APP that are part of a normal APP recycling/replenishment system on the neuron cell surface. We wondered if we could minimize the toxic cleavage events that occur inside the cell by promoting the non-pathological, cell surface recycling of APP.”

In a recent report in the Journal of Neuroscience, the flagship journal of Society for Neuroscience, the Xu lab identified candidate molecules that might be important for promoting the cell surface recycling of APP. According to post-doctoral associate Timothy Huang, PhD, first author on the paper, “Loss of a recycling protein called SORLA has been observed in Alzheimer’s patients. Our experiments show that SORLA forms a complex with an intracellular navigational protein, SNX27, which can redirect SORLA and its binding target APP to the cell surface. On the surface, APP mostly undergoes non-pathological processing rather than generating Ab.”

Further validation of this inside versus outside concept was achieved by tweaking cellular levels of SORLA and SNX27 in cultured neurons. Increasing the levels of SORLA and SNX27 resulted in higher levels of APP on the cell surface, thus avoiding production of the toxic Ab fragment. In contrast, decreasing the levels of SORLA and SNX27 kept APP largely inside the cell, thus increasing its vulnerability to pathological cleavage.

Xu emphasizes that future work will need to aim at determining whether these SORLA-SNX27-APP interactions can be exploited in mouse models of Alzheimer’s as a means of preventing or lessening the effects of the disease.

Institute News

The Collaboration 4 Cure Alzheimer’s research awards announced at SBP

Authorsgammon
Date

October 29, 2015

Header image

On October 28, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, County Supervisor Diane Jacob, San Diego philanthropist Darlene Shiley, and Mary Ball, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association San Diego, came to SBP to announce the recipients of research awards from San Diego’s Dementia Drug Discovery Collaborative Program, “Collaboration 4 Cure (C4C).” The awards are part of an innovative program to harvest the best research ideas toward effective treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Eight world-class researchers were selected by C4C to pursue promising drug discovery projects. They will be given state-of-the-art equipment, resources and expertise at SBP’s Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics (Prebys Center) and The Scripps Research Institute to search for “small molecule” chemicals that can alter changes in the brain observed in Alzheimer’s disease, potentially restoring brain health to patients.

The research award recipients and their projects include:

  • Huaxi Hu, PhD, (SBP), will search for chemicals that can activate microglia cells, which protect neurons from inflammation and remove damaged cells.
  • Elena Pasquale, PhD, (SBP), funded to search for molecules that that prevent protein aggregation that form amyloid beta plaques.
  • Lutz Tautz, PhD, (SBP), will screen for molecules that reduce levels of an enzyme thought to inhibit memory formation in Alzheimer’s patients.
  • Yunwu Zhang, PhD, (SBP), will search for compounds that target apotosin, a protein thought to damage neurons.
  • Albert La Spada, MD, PhD (UCSD), will screen for molecules that increase the activity of lysosomes, packets of enzymes with protein-clearing powers.
  • Mathew Pearn, MD, (UCSD), funded to examine protein-bearing cellular structures called endosomes from growing too large and killing neurons.
  • Subhojit Roy, PhD, (UCSD), will seek ways to separate precursor proteins from the enzymes that turn them into amyloid beta.
  • Steve L. Wagner, PhD, (UCSD), will search for a way to mute the side effects of gamma secretase inhibitors, which can disrupt the amyloid formation process.

“SBP is proud to be part of C4C. San Diego is home to some of the best neuroscientists in the world, and with our advanced screening and drug discovery capabilities at the Prebys Center, we hope to quickly advance research to prevent, treat, and even cure this terrible disease,” said Michael Jackson, PhD, senior vice president of Drug Discovery and Development at SBP.

Initial funds for the launch of C4C, totaling nearly $500,000, were obtained through the generosity of Darlene Shiley and others involved with the initiative. With a five-year funding goal of $7 million, all funds will be raised through local philanthropy, and restricted to projects from researchers at San Diego-based institutions.

Alzheimer’s disease is the third-leading cause of death in the San Diego region.

To view the KUSI newscast of the event, click here