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Neurodegeneration dream team
December 2012
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The consortium brings together the Picower Institute of
Memory and Learning at MIT, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
and Baylor College of
Medicine. Each institution will bring its own strengths
to bear in a robust and multifaceted partnership that will strive toward better
understanding the underlying instigators of Alzheimer's disease.
The focus of the research will
extend beyond the amyloid
hypothesis that attracts most of the focus in the field. The amyloid hypothesis
suggests that the buildup of amyloid beta-
peptide in the brain is a primary
influence in the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease.
"There appear to be multiple mechanisms at work in
Alzheimer's disease … there are co-conspirators beyond amyloids in the
brain,"
says Dr. Ronald DePinho, president of MD Anderson.
Recent research at MIT, among other
institutions, has
suggested that neurodegeneration, cancer and other diseases associated with
aging are intimately linked. Age itself appears to be the
most important risk
factor, leading researchers to believe that understanding the "circuitry" of
aging at the molecular level holds the key to
preserving patient health and
enhancing quality of life in an aging population.
The consortium
will attempt to leverage its members'
multidimensional backgrounds to adopt an unbiased view of the problem, hitting
a "reset button" for Alzheimer
's research and attempting to apply genomic and
computational biological technologies to identify new therapeutic points of
attack.
Picower Institute Director Li-Huei Tsai is a prominent
neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimer's research, and
will serve as the lead
MIT investigator. The team of investigators includes Lynda Chin, DePinho,
Giulio Draetta, Ming-Kuei Jang and Philip Jones of MD
Anderson; Juan Botas,
Joanna Jankowsky and Hui Zheng of the Baylor College of Medicine; and Hugo Bellen
and Huda Zoghbi of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Jan and Dan
Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor
College of Medicine.
The Picower Institute and Baylor College will be the leading
forces behind the underpinning science and pathway development.
Once targets
are identified, the infrastructure for drug development will be done at MD
Anderson. MD Anderson's drug development team, which possesses
200 years of
combined experience, is tasked with converting the research into viable
clinical drug candidates.
The consortium's benefactor, Belfer, has supported cancer
research in the past, and when he became interested in neurodegeneration, he
started by asking trusted experts what the field needed to make progress.
These
conversations led him to assembling something of a "dream team" of scientists
with expertise in Alzheimer's disease, autism, cancer and other
illnesses in a
robust cross-fertilization of scientific disciplines. The investigators chosen
for the consortium include individuals capable not just
of making scientific
discoveries, but also instigating drug development.
"Pharma has moved away from neurodegeneration
because of
some of the failures of past research," he says. "We hope to re-engage pharma
and take new drugs to trial. The consortium being funded by
a philanthropic
gift allows us to be more maverick and take risks."
On a more somber note, DePinho recounts the impetus for the
consortium's work.
Code: E121222 Back |
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