MU opens neuroscience center in renovated building

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are 110,000 elderly residents in Missouri with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and that number will increase by 9 percent in the next 10 years.
Recently, there have been several research breakthroughs reported in academic journals, including one finding that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.
At the MU School of Medicine, Alzheimer’s disease research will be conducted at the new Center for Translational Neuroscience, which occupies 9,000 square feet of renovated lab space on the seventh floor of MU’s Medical Sciences Building.
The renovations began in September 2009 and were supported by $1.4 million in federal funding. The medical school said the space will serve dual purposes — both as a home base for research teams and as the site of four new core facilities for neurosurgery, cell culture, neurobehavior and imaging analysis.
Earlier this month, MU hosted an open house at the center.
Grace Sun, an MU professor of biochemistry and pathology, directs an Alzheimer’s research program that has been supported by more than $10 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health.
How many people will be working at the center, and do you expect there to be more employees hired in the coming year?
Sun: There are 10 principal investigators at the center, and each investigator brings a team of graduate students, post-doctoral students and residents. We think the new physical lab space and the exciting discoveries being made there will attract great scientific minds.
Which areas of the campus are faculty members at the center coming from, and what will they be studying besides Alzheimer’s disease?
Sun: The new space will be home to faculty members from many programs on campus, including biochemistry, pathology and anatomical sciences, biological sciences, psychological sciences, neurology and neurosurgery. Basic scientists and clinical researchers will not only study age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s but also brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, infectious diseases of the nervous system, autoimmunity and neurodevelopmental disorders.
What are the benefits of having scientists and clinicians from many disciplines working in the same place?
Sun: The brain is a very complex organ, and studies to understand neurodegenerative diseases require expertise from many fields. The open floor plan at the center will facilitate communication and collaboration among scientists and clinicians. Our shared goal is to take scientific findings from cellular and molecular-level studies and animal models and translate them into therapies and cures that benefit patients.
What are the researchers at the center focusing on in the fight against Alzheimer’s?
Sun: A new Alzheimer’s patient is being identified every 70 seconds, so the disease touches many people. In addition, Alzheimer’s can last seven to 10 years, which makes it very costly to society.
Our research is focused on recognizing abnormalities in signaling pathways leading to impairment of neurons and inflammatory responses in glial cells — supporting cells in the central nervous system — and on developing therapies to overcome the damage. It is important to understand how these aberrant pathways lead to synaptic impairment and memory loss. Our recent studies demonstrated an ability for some botanical antioxidants, such as those found in green tea and grapes, to protect the oxidative pathways in brain cells.
We believe that efforts to protect and maintain a healthy brain should start young. Dietary supplementation of antioxidants might help to delay onset and progression of the disease.