Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute

The Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute is part of a new pilot program aimed at funding interdisciplinary research of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

The collaborative effort, called the “New Horizons in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD),” has three initial awards which examine the impact of hereditary Alzheimer’s mutations, early diagnosis and discovery of Alzheimer’s risks, and determine potential use of noninvasive methods for diagnosis.

In late 2022, a one-day symposium for ADRD researchers, led to this universitywide effort. Here’s a look at the pilot awards.

Contribution of HTRA1 and MT5-MMP to the Impact of Hereditary Alzheimer’s Disease Mutations ($37,500) to two Brain Institute members, Hongjie Wang, Ph.D., assistant research professor, Florida Atlantic Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and member of Florida Atlantic’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention; and Ning Quan, Ph.D., professor, Schmidt College of Medicine.

Results will help understand the role of HTRA1 in Alzheimer’s pathology and provide preliminary answers for its role in disease-associated oligodendrocytes function.
Early Prediction of ADRD on Preclinical Assessment Data Using Machine Learning Tools ($37,500) to María de los Ángeles Ortega, DNP, APRN, associate dean, professor and director, Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, Florida Atlantic Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing; Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D., associate professor, College of Science, and associate director of the Florida Atlantic Center for Future Mind; and Safiya George, Ph.D., dean; David Newman, Ph.D., associate professor; and Debarshi Datta, Ph.D., senior research fellow, all of the College of Nursing; and Subhosit Ray, doctoral student, College of Science.

The study assesses effective clinical management for patients with ADRD, including early diagnosis, delay in the onset and slow progression.

Serving the Underserved

María de los Ángeles Ortega, DNP, recently earned a $1.3 million grant to advance health equity to underserved and marginalized communities in Broward County with specialized dementia services and support.

The project, titled Connecting Communities to Caring-Based Dementia-Specific Services and Supports, was created around the fundamental principle that all people, regardless of age or disability, should be able to live independently and participate fully in their communities.

Ortega, professor and associate dean of clinical practice, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, is the director of Florida Atlantic’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, which provides services of care and education to those with memory disorders and their families.

These include respite, psychotherapeutics, psychoeducation, counseling and support groups. With no direct cures, a better assessment of the disease prognosis can help plan and manage associated risk factors.

Alzheimer’s Early Detection via Noninvasive Analysis of Retinal Vascular Dynamics ($25,000) to Ramin Pashaie, Ph.D., associate professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and fellow, Florida Atlantic Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering; and Ruth Tappen, Ed.D., Christine E. Lynn Eminent Scholar and professor, College of Nursing.

Researchers will determine potential use of non-invasive retinal imaging as a viable and cost-effective procedure for Alzheimer’s screening. If successful, this research will lead to the clinical translation of the technology where Alzheimer’s diagnosis is done through a set of fully automated retinal imagining tests.

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