USF Health and the research of neuroscientist Edwin Weeber, PhD, got a national boost this week with the posting of an inspirational video on the popular web portal Yahoo! News. The clip above, created by USF Health Communications, offers a behind-the-scenes peek at the Yahoo.com crew’s production of the video Angleman Syndrome: Close to a Cure? Yahoo! teamed up with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST), which helps support Dr. Weeber’s research, to promote research for the rare neuro-genetic disorder. The resulting video, including an interview with Dr. Weeber, […]

Tips to Reduce Wandering in People with Alzheimer’s Disease… Tampa, FL (May 9, 2011) – The University of South Florida Memory Disorder Clinic will host two sessions Friday, May 13, to inform the public, senior service providers and local law enforcement officials about the Florida Silver Alert program.  Enacted by former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2008, Silver Alert is a statewide coordinated messaging system that uses roadside signs and media notifications to help find people 60 or older with dementia who disappear in a vehicle. The same session will be […]

Excess beta amyloid leads to abnormal cell division and defective neurons Tampa, FL (May 2, 2011) — A protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease clogs several motors of the cell transport machinery critical for normal cell division, leading to defective neurons that may contribute to the memory-robbing disease, University of South Florida researchers report. In a new study published online in the journal Cell Cycle, scientists at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute. the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Indiana University also suggest that the protein beta amyloid (amyloid protein) […]

At a signing ceremony April 1, Chinese health officials and leaders of USF Health and its Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute announced their intentions to forge collaborations in Alzheimer’s disease education and clinical research. The ceremony culminated a three-day visit to USF by the six-member Chinese delegation representing the Tianjin Public Health Bureau; the Tianjin Huanhu Hospital Neurological and Neurosurgical Disease Center and its Department of Neurology; and the Tianjin Infectious Disease Hospital. L to R:  USF Health CEO Dr. Stephen Klakso shakes hands with Dr. Changhong Shen, associate director of the Tianjin […]

Huntington Potter, PhD, a USF Health neuroscientist well known for his research on Alzheimer’s disease, has been elected a 2010 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Potter is a professor of molecular medicine at the USF Health and holds an endowed chair in Alzheimer’s research. He received the high-profile AAAS distinction for his contributions to the fields of genetic recombination, electroporation and neuroscience, particularly the findings that inflammation and aneuploidy (abnormal number of chromosomes) link Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. Recently, Dr. Potter and […]

USF study suggests memory-destroying tau tangles proliferate in brain when Hsp27 regulation is compromised Tampa, FL (Dec. 1, 2010) — Dynamic regulation of the chaperone protein Hsp27 was required to get rid of abnormally accumulating tau in the brains of mice genetically modified to develop the memory-choking tau tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a University of South Florida-led study found. Researchers at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute demonstrated that the effective switching of Hsp27 between its active and deactivated states was critical on two fronts — to promote the […]

Researchers at USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute highlight advances, including a new generation of drugs that may slow or reverse the underlying disease Alzheimer’s disease drugs available today help improve symptoms for some patients, but do not stop or delay the abnormal build-up of plaques in the brain – a hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease that destroys memory. That may be about to change. The 98 investigational medicines for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, either in clinical trials or awaiting FDA review, include promising prospects that target the disease’s underlying […]