New dementia drug discovery efforts get underway this month at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla., thanks to £875,000 funding (approximately $1.2 million) from the Dementia Consortium. The U.S. team of academics will work with drug development experts at UK-based MRC Technology, to target the immune system in a bid to halt nerve cell damage.

The investment comes as part of the £4 million Dementia Consortium – a global partnership between Alzheimer’s Research UK, MRC Technology and the pharmaceutical companies Abbvie, Astex, Eisai and Lilly. By uniting expertise, the Consortium is bridging the gap between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry in the search for new drugs to slow neurodegenerative diseases.  The Consortium’s project with the University of South Florida marks their first contract for collaboration with an American University.

The link between the immune system and neurodegeneration is the focus of intense investigation, and a number of drug discovery efforts aimed at reducing inflammation have got underway recently. In this collaborative project, Dr. David Morgan and Dr. Kevin Nash of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, University of South Florida, will explore the role of immune system regulator, fractalkine, in neurodegeneration. Their previous work in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease indicated a neuroprotective role for the protein, with increased levels of fractalkine dampening inflammation, halting nerve cell death and reducing tau deposits. The team observed similar benefits in mouse models of Parkinson’s, suggesting that fractalkine receptor agonism could be a treatment approach for a number of neurodegenerative diseases.

David Morgan, PhD, CEO of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and Distinguished University Health Professor (left) and Kevin Nash, PhD, assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology, with an image of neurons expressing fractalkine, an immune system regulator with a neuroprotective effect.

As no known small molecule agonists of the fractalkine receptor exist, the Dementia Consortium funding will couple Dr Morgan’s expertise in neurodegeneration and in vivo validation techniques with the MRC Technology’s extensive screening capabilities and medicinal chemistry programmes.

Talking about the new funding, Dr. David Morgan, CEO of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, said:

“We’ve been exploring the role of fractalkine in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease for many years now, highlighting a neuroprotective role for the protein. Thanks to funding from the Dementia Consortium, we are now able to shift our focus from pathway characterization to drug development. We’re particularly excited that this approach could have an impact across a number of different neurodegenerative diseases and look forward to coupling our disease knowledge with drug discovery experts in the UK, to help accelerate progress towards treatments.”

Dr. Simon Ridley, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:

“Dementia is our greatest medical challenge, with 46 million people worldwide living with the condition. The Dementia Consortium is one of a range of initiatives by Alzheimer’s Research UK to accelerate the ‘bench to bedside’ journey, ensuring that academic insights are translated into the clinic as rapidly as possible. The high attrition rate in drug discovery means we must invest heavily in promising early stage development projects and the Dementia Consortium provides a unique vehicle for this investment, uniting expertise across the academic, technology transfer and pharmaceutical sectors.”

Close-up of microscopic image: magnified neurons expressing fractalkine.

Dr. Justin Bryans, Director, Drug Discovery at MRC Technology, said:

“Scientists are increasingly looking at the body’s own immune system to fight some of the most challenging diseases of our time. This project will progress promising findings that fractalkine could reduce inflammation and cell death. Drug discovery expertise in our laboratories will now be applied to find small molecules to stimulate the fractalkine receptor so we can move a step closer to finding a new treatment for people with dementia.”

On forming new partnerships, Valerie McDevitt, Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer & Business Partnerships at the University of South Florida, said:

“The University of South Florida places emphasis on building new relationships like this one to help bridge the gap between academic research and industry.  Our collaboration with the Dementia Consortium provides an opportunity to positively impact the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and aligns with our university mission to serve as a highly effective major economic engine.”

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For further information, or to speak with Dr. Morgan or Dr. Ridley, please contact Emma O’Brien, Science Communications Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK on 0300 111 5 666, mobile or email press@alzheimersresearchuk.org.

Francine Shebell, winner of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute's "CEO for a Day" online auction fundraiser, with Institute CEO Dave Morgan, PhD

Francine Shebell, a retired attorney from St. Petersburg, recently got a glimpse of the inner workings of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, one of the world’s largest freestanding centers dedicated to research, education and treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.   Shebell’s husband Peter suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Shebell won the Institute’s online auction to be “CEO for a Day,” a fundraiser held in April to benefit the Center for Memory C.A.R.E.  On Friday, May 18, she spent the day alongside the Institute’s official CEO Dave Morgan, PhD., who navigated Shebell through a behind-the-scenes look at the facility and its basic science and translational research.

In addition to meeting with researchers and staff in the laboratory and reviewing new plans for volunteer opportunities, Shebell attended a meeting of all the institute’s faculty investigators and postdoctoral students.  The institute’s researchers are studying changes in the brain that cause dementia and working to develop new approaches for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s; many are supported in part by National Institutes of Health funding.

Kevin Nash, PhD, who studies gene therapy approaches to Alzheimer's disease, pulls up an image on the computer monitor for Shebell and Dr. Morgan.

 “The whole day was fascinating, and I left feeling hopeful”  Shebell said. “I learned that you need to get rid of the abnormal amyloid and the tau (hallmark proteins associated with Alzheimer’s).  Ultimately there will probably need to be cocktail approach to combating Alzheimer’s,  one drug won’t cure it.”

Shebell is all too familiar with the struggles families face when caring for a loved one battling Alzheimer’s; her husband began displaying signs of dementia after the couple moved to Florida in 2006.

“It took me several years to accept that Peter had dementia, but then I was referred to the Byrd Institute and saw Dr. Amanda Smith, medical director for the Institute,” Shebell said. “Dr. Smith diagnosed Peter with Alzheimer’s and gave me the strength to deal with this new chapter in my life.”

Shebell, a caregiver whose husband suffers from Alzheimer's, listens as Dr. Nash talks about the inflammatory process in the brain.

Ed Weeber, PhD, (right) the institute's scientific director, discusses new research initiatives with Dr. Morgan and Shebell.

"We're trying to find approaches in the lab we can move into the clinic to slow down the disease process," Dr. Morgan tells Shebell.

 Photos by Eric Younghans/USF Health Communications