March 26, 2025 • 34 mins
Spoke with Dr. Randy Blakely, Exec Dir FAU Stiles Nicholson Brain Institute and Sir John Hardy, Ph.D., University College London. Professor Hardy is a leading geneticist for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research. He's one of the guest lecturers participating in FAU's free Brainy Days series. His study has identified the gene in families called the amyloid precursor protein (APP), which led to his theory, the amyloid cascade hypothesis. “The next job that we have to do in Alzheimer’s disease is to get better at predicting the disease earlier. Identifying the people that are going to develop dementia, or detecting the diseases that cause it at their earliest stages will make a huge difference. It will help ensure that future treatments will be more effective. It’s going to be tough to do it, but that’s one of the next challenges." FAU offers a variety of free community events and educational programs.
Brainy Days is sponsored by Palm Health Foundation. For more information about Brainy Days, visit www.fau.edu/brain/brainydays or email BI-outreach@fau.edu.
Brainy Days is sponsored by Palm Health Foundation. For more information about Brainy Days, visit www.fau.edu/brain/brainydays or email BI-outreach@fau.edu.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
iHeart Communities presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Which dad, Now, good morning, Welcome to Calm Beach Treasure
Coast Perspective. I'm your host, Deev Nev. Thanks for spending
your weekend with me. All kinds of great things happening.
This is really neat the East Boyton Blaze Baseball team
is doing their second annual charity golf tournament. So basically,
the folks go out and play golf and raise money
for the kids for their baseball team so they can
(00:25):
travel and do all the training and stuff. So I
think it's really cool. The second annual Blaze Baller charity
golf Tournament is happening on Saturday, May thirty first, once
at the prestigious Banyon Golf Club, So of course, is
raising crucial funds to help the team's journey to the
World Series tournaments in Pigeonforge and Tennessee and Cooperstown, New York.
So they're gonna be going both places, which I think
(00:46):
is fantastic. And for more information about getting tickets, you
can call them at three five two two six two
nineteen hundred or go to the website Blaze b l
A ze Baller b A L L E R. Do
Blazeballer dot com and they're happy to hook you up
with the tickets for you and your friends. Go play
some golf and have fun and raise money for a
(01:07):
good cause while you're doing it. If you feel like
taking a walk outside, you want to head over to
Mount S Botanical Gardens. They've got a great variety of
classes going on right now. There's ard Inthegarden, tai Chi, yoga,
sound baths is. Go to mount dot org to find
out all the different times. Or if you feel like
doing a tea ceremony, you can go to the more
(01:27):
Comby Gardens. They've got a lovely tea ceremony happening on
the weekends to check out. And now, if you like
being outdoors and doing like the hiking and the paddling,
go to SLC Hikes dot org and they've got a
bunch of different hikes in the preserves in Saint Lucie
County waiting for you to take. Pardon. Lots of fun
with that. Now, if you're more of an indoor person
like me, head over to the North Museum of Art.
(01:47):
Lots of great exhibitions happening all kinds of fun family
classes as well on the weekends, and of course Cravis
Center Arts Garage and del Rey Sunrise Theater and the
Churgure Coast Palm Beach Stromworks have a wonderful variety of
show was happening this season, so you can check those
out as well. Speaking getting more information, I want to
introduce my guests for today. I have got Sir John Hardy.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Good morning, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And I have also executive director doctor Randy Blakelee from
the FAU Styles Nicholson Brain Institute. Welcome back, I heb
thanks for coming in. Dr Randy. You and I spoke
several months ago with Pat McNamara and we're talking about
like how Florida's becoming the Brain host, right, and I
know you've worked with some of her colleagues at FAU
and like we were talking before the show, just like a
(02:31):
year ago, you guys did a patent on a so
it was a molecule that's like the beginning part of
finding another treatment perhaps for addiction.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
This was a long and coming discovery that led to
a finding that there might be a path for treatment
of addiction that we didn't know about. It's a metabolic path,
but the protein and the drugs that target it have
been shown to have actions in rodent models of addiction.
(03:05):
Of course, we have to work our way up to humans,
and we still have a lot of work to do
just to understand what we've found. But it is very
exciting because there is a crying need for medications to
treat this substance abuse. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Absolutely, Opia crisis is still a big thing unfortunately. Absolutely,
so if we can find ways to help people, that's fantastic.
And I think that's what's to me one of the
most intriguing and awesome things about the Brain Institute there
at FAU, because you're doing all these well considered cutting
edge things that the public may not know about. So
I know throughout the year you do different seminars that
people can attend. Of course, March is Brainy Days, Brainy Days.
(03:43):
I love that, and of course our brain guru for John.
So you are the leading researcher for the genetic link
to Alzheimer's correct.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, you know, I wouldn't nice to say I'm the
leading I'm certainly a genetic researcher in Alzheimer's disease and
Parkinson's disease. Maybe I'm called the leading because I've been
you know, getting on and I've been doing it for
thirty years, so maybe that's the leading. But yes, and
it's very nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I have to say, I'm so glad you could come in.
So obviously, addiction is an issue. Alzheimer's is a huge issue,
and in our area we have a very large it
seems like thirty thirty three percent maybe aging population, so
they're over seventy so they're prime candidates. Unfortunately for Alzheimer's.
(04:35):
I know it happens to some younger folks. But what
exactly is Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well alzheimer Well, firstly, dementia. Dementia is a gradual loss
of facility one's facilities and coping with the activities of
daily living, and it starts often with a problem with
making new memories. So that's dementia, which we all recognize
in the very elderly. Now Alzheimer's disease is the most
(05:04):
common form of that dementia. It's about half of those
people with dementia will actually have Alzheimer's disease, and that's
characterized by specific changes in the brain something called plaques
made up of a protein called amyloid, and tangles made
up of a protein called tao, and those are things
(05:26):
which can be seen by pathologists after death and they say, yes,
this was the cause of dementia in this person. So
Alzheimer's disease is a specific diagnosis. Dementia is like saying
someone's got cancer. You know, you want to say exactly
what form of cancer? So it's a catchual term.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Oh well, that's good to know. You said. You've been
researching this for like thirty years, and I've found a pathway,
like doctor Blakely found a pathway for the molecule that
can be metabolic for addiction. You've a genified something in
the genes for Alzheimer's.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That's right, we found. So there's all this pathology which
I mentioned, amyloid in the brain, tangles, tau made of
tau protein in the brain, and besides that, there's a
lot of neurons have died. So you've got this complicated pathology.
And what you want to know is how does this
pathology start. If you can put the pathology in order,
(06:24):
then maybe you can find a way to intervene in
that pathology. And what we found, starting with one particular
family where the Alzheimer's disease came on at the age
of about fifty five, is that all affected members of
that family all have mutations in the amyloid protein. And
that allowed us to say, we know where the disease
(06:46):
starts in this family. It starts with amyloid and everything
else is secondary to it. So the simplest explanation is
that amyloid is where it always starts. And that was
the what's called the amyloid hypothesis, and that's been what
drug companies and a lot of researchers have been working
on ever since we made that suggestion in the early
(07:09):
nineteen nineties.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, like you found the Resetta Stone in a way.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, we found exactly how the disease starts in that
particular family, and we've gone on and other groups have
gone on and found very closely related changes in other
families with early onset disease. So we know that in
those families the disease starts with amyloid, and that gives
the drug companies, if you like, something to.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Aim at, that's great. So now obviously that's the genetic
part of it is the nurture versus nature kind of thing.
Does that come into play with dementia.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
To some extent in these families, the people with the
mutations get the disease. It's a one to one relationship, okay,
But generally if you've got an identical twin with Alzheimer's disease,
you're more likely to get the disease. But not certain.
So genetics are part of it, but they're not the
(08:04):
whole story. There must be other I mean, and I
will say, you know, nurture, there must be other factors
playing in there as well. So it isn't a genes
versus environment for most people. I suspect it's genes and environment.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So that is just fascinating. So now as listeners are,
I'm a two time breast cancer survivor. So actually, once
I had the disease, we did the genetic testing to
see if I had the brac of Ie or bracker
to mutation, because that was then determine my course of treatment.
Is there a genetic test yet for dementia or Alzheimer's for.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
These families like the one I started by describing, there
are genetic tests. You know, if you think you're in
one of these families with an early onset form of
the disease where you've got other family members, you should
definitely go and see your neurologist and they could offer
you the test. Yeah, have to be you know, you
(09:01):
have to think carefully about whether you take the test
because it has implications for your children and so on,
which you have. You know, that gets a complicated, it's
a complicated outcome. But there's a fantastic study run here
in the States out of Washington Saint Louis called the
Diane Study all capital.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Letters D I, A N.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's really a great study and that collects all of
these families with these simply inherited forms of disease and
organizes clinical trials in those families. So it's a really
just for these families with the early onset form of
the disease. Genetics can be really very important and also
(09:47):
also part of the solution because they're doing clinical trials
in those people.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh yeah, so I if they can get the medication
or the treatment earlier exactly, then we can stop or
slow the exact question.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know, there's almost no disease where it's better to
treat late in every disease. You know, what doctors want
is to be able to treat early, and of course
in these families, we can start treatment before the first
clinical symptoms from a theoretical point of view. So yes,
(10:21):
these are really great studies. Yeah, as I've said that
in this country, they're led by people from Washington University
in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh, that's fantastic. It's like I know, I spoke to
some of the doctors from researchers from Scripts and they
were actually using tomoxifin, which is after you've been diagnosed
with the breast cancer you take it for five years
as to prevent it from coming back. They were trying
to think of a way to use it problatically to
prevent people from getting the breast cancer at the beginning exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
That's an analogous idea for sure. I should say also
that the guys in the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, they're
part of this Diane study. So for those of view
in Florida that those guys, they're great clinical group up there.
They are also part of this Diane study.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So if someone is exhibiting symptoms, or you have a
friend or a loved one exhibiting symptoms. What are some
of the symptoms they're going to see initially.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
So, the first part of the brain that is hit
is a part of the brain called the hippocampus, and
that part of the brain is basically behind your earlobes.
It's about the same shape as the bottom of your
earlobes too, so it's inside about half an inch behind
your earlobes. And the point of that part of the
brain is to help you make new memories. So when
(11:40):
you learn something you know, the brain makes a decision,
am I going to remember this or not? And that's
the part of the brain that have a central involvement
in that and what happens in people with Alzheimer's disease
often the first symptom is that part of the brain
doesn't work well and they don't make new memories. They
(12:03):
can still remember things from years and years ago, but
they can't make a new memory. They forget well. A
classic symptom is they go out to buy milk in
the morning. Then they come back and think, oh, I'll
go out and buy some milk, and they go out
to the shop again. They haven't remembered that they've done
it already that type of symptom, so the failure to
(12:25):
make of course, you know, it's very difficult to make
that distinction cleanly. I mean, when I woke up this morning,
I couldn't remember where I put my cell phone. You know,
everybody has these types of problems. Everybody so publics.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I can't remember wear a part of the car exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
So it's difficult to be hard and fast about things.
And often what you find is that it's the spouse
of the person who really says no, you've got a problem,
because the person the problem doesn't realize they're doing things twice.
It's the spouse who thinks, God, he's already done that.
(13:07):
You know, That's how it often comes about.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I remember my good friend's grandmother developed dementia and
apparently her husband had just taken care of her and
never said anything to the rest of the family. Yeah,
he just took care of it. When he passed, then
it became a parent and I was living here in
Florida and she was down here. So the goal was
for me to go stay with her and like be
there to help. And they're like, she's like, oh no,
(13:33):
she can't come because she remembered me as like an
eleven year old girl in pigtails sliding down her banister
in the house when we weren't supposed to be doing that,
and she met me as an adult and she could
not make that connection between the old me and the
new meat at all.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's a very I have to say, that's a
very typical Florida story. A lot that happens to a
lot of people here in Florida. That's why it's important
to have a research center in Florida based on looking
at dementia because of course a lot of people move
down here and they leave their children up in New
(14:10):
York or Chicago. A couple come down here. Let's say
the husband dies and he's been the if you like,
the caregiver, and then the wife is suddenly on our
own and in the medium stages of dementia, and nobody
has realized because the husband has been hiding it in
(14:32):
a way. So this is a real Florida story and
why it's really important to have research institutes here in
Florida looking at this problem.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So if you do think you have a love one
is exhibiting symptoms, you won't make an appointment the neurologists
correct definitely, and then they can connect with the folks
in Jacksonville also the male clinic there that needs.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Exactly exactly. I would say people with early onset, people
with on ST before the age of sixty should definitely
think about that. Of course, I think anybody with any
spouse thinking that their spouse has got dementia should take
them for dement for evaluation for sure, but specifically below
(15:17):
the age of sixty, I think that they should be
looking for a referral to a real specialist center.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh definitely, Yeah, Because I have a friend whose father
is now he has to mention they're dealing with that,
and he's great when the mom is there, like when
her moms are with him. If she needs to go out,
he gets very agitated. So that's a big problem for
them because the mom's getting exhausted.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah. I have to say, with the tragic story of
Gene Hackman, that was a tragic story. And you realize
that the wife has been not covering up but covering
for Gene Hackman probably for quite a long time, and
other people have not realized how seriously incapacitated it he was.
(16:00):
That is a really tragic, a really tragic story, but
not unusual, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh no, And because it is Gene Hackman that makes
people more aware.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yes, I agree.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Let's use that example to help people be aware, you know,
and get help.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And my thing is if you always, if you need help,
call to you on one. They can connect you with
all kinds of different services in our area. And if
you don't know a good neurologists, they can help you
find one and then you can go from there and
get care. And I know there's like healthier Boyton Beach happening,
and that is a coalition to get caregivers connected with
(16:39):
more local services to help them because they're caring for
the loved ones. And sometimes it's students in school who
are having problems in school because they're at home taking
care of their grand instead of doing their homework.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
That it is what it is, Yes, it is. And
the other resource, of course is the Alzheimer's Association. And
I'm sure that there's a local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association,
and I'm sure that they can help with pointing people
in the right direction. And so you know, the old
expression had a problem, a problem shared is a problem.
(17:12):
Actually I can't remember the expression, but you know what
I mean. The problem shared is less of a problem,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Oh yeah, definitely. And when I was sick, I never
wanted to ask for help, and then like got sick
again and I asked for help. I was surprised and
so touched by how many people They're like, what do
you need? And I was like, I was home. I
was on the medication watching TV, like I don't know,
all of a sudden, I'm wanting like, you know, chicken
carbonara or whatever, you know, And she's like, you must
(17:42):
have seen an ad on the TV. You know. I
was watching, like brainlessly watching. She's like, it'll be there
in twenty minutes. You'll hear a knock on the door.
And I'm like, I'm not hungry now. She's like, but
you will be. It'll be there. So she just did
like the door dashing while she was talking to me
another friend. When I had to go for some very
invasive treatments, they were really you know, trom for me,
just like what nights, what days you're having treatment? Your
(18:03):
dinner will be waiting for you. When you film your
girld salmon on solid it's going to be there like
they just did it and it was so nice, Doctor
blate Leek. So when people come to the university for
your community programs, how do they do that?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, first thing they should do is go to our website,
which can be found at ibrain I b r AI
N dot FAU dot edu and that will get you
to our web page and there's a block there that
says community and through that link they can see all
(18:40):
of our public programs. This month, the month of March,
as you mentioned, is Brainy Days, and it's filled with
presentations by Professor Hardy here and throughout the month we
welcome the public end to our institute, and we also
go out to the public. We have one program at
(19:02):
the local public library in West Palm Beach, for example,
And so there are many ways in which the Brain
Institute seeks to educate the public about research on brain
disorders or on brain health. Right, so we don't always
need to be talking about it from a disorder perspective.
(19:22):
What are the things one can do to keep your
brain healthy and resilient. That's such a popular theme these days,
and we think there's actually quite a lot of good
neuroscience there because we know the brain has plasticity and
it can change, and that kind of engagement that those
activities are ones that I think we all believe can
(19:44):
keep our brain healthy and stave off illness.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I agree, and I interviewed the folks from the Alzhem's
Association a couple of years ago, and one of the
recommendations they had was, if you haven't go learn country
line dancing some there in the bar, the rest, you know,
the restaurant that teaches it. It's either free or very inexpensive,
but it involves physical movement, new mental pathways to learn
the movement remember it, and socialization because you're meeting people,
(20:13):
so all these things. So it was like it touched
on a lot of touchstones, these that were important. So
I went with friends to do the line dancing and
the really really good looking gentleman behind me is like, girl,
your other left, your other left. So it was a
fun night. I still left and right. So challenging, but.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Well, just to you know, think about it in terms
of the research perspective, and locally here at our Brain Institute,
we have an investigator not named Henriette von Prague and
doctor von Prague's discoveries now a number of years ago
showed that this area of the brain, the hippocampus that
Professor Hardy was discussing, is very plastic, and even more
(20:56):
so in her work, she showed that exercise stimulate the
growth of new neurons, something we don't usually think about.
We think we're born with all the neurons we'll ever have,
But in this particular area of the brain, maybe one
or two others, there is a continual generation of new neurons.
(21:17):
But if you do not push the brain through its paces,
and one of those paces is exercise, then these cells
grow in number, and they grow more complex, and they
form more synapses. And it turns out the mice that
exercise in her experiments are actually smarter in learning and
(21:37):
memory tasks than ones that did not, which is profound.
Profound has profound implications for how we think about treating
these disorders that we're talking about today, and I think
particularly for individuals who may be in that laid on
set kind of dementia Alzheimer's disease risk zone where it
(22:01):
takes a lot of factors coming together to drive risk
having activities like this are even more important than they
are in these early onset cases.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
One of the things I think is really has been
exciting over the last ten years is that I think
people in the Alzheimer field who have been looking at
the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease have realized that heart health
is a really important in terms of risk of dementia.
(22:35):
And so you know, getting people, as we've just discussed,
to exercise, actually again, cut smoking, monitor blood pressure, monitor cholesterol,
and so on and so forth. All of those things
can reduce in terms of late onset disease at least
can reduce your risk of getting dementia. It's really been
(22:59):
a remark and quiet finding people haven't really realized that
that has happened. It's really it's been really good news
that's been hidden.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, part of different groups for fitness health online, and
one of them is like she went to her doctor
and they actually wrote on a real prescription pad walk
five times a week.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, very sensible.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Another research area you're doing, you said as also Parkinson's.
So speaking of celebrities, Michael J. Fox and we actually
have the Boca Ballet Theater here in the community, and
they have a ballet style class that is geared and
they're trained and licensed to do for Parkinson's folks, to
keep the mobile socialized, and they can do it in
(23:41):
person at the ballet theater or via zoom at home
if that works better for them and their caregivers and
their friends and family can go with them. So I
think that's a fantastic service.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
No, it's a great thing to do, a great thing
to do, and very very important to keep people mobile,
otherwise they start to develop other problems as well as
their as their Parkinson's disease. You know, being immobile, it's
bad for you. It's just bad for you. So you know,
it's a very good thing to push Parkinson's disease to
(24:12):
to do a little bit of gentle exercise. Very important.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
So, now the research you've done into the dimension Alzheimer's,
is there a link with that to the Parkinson's or
is that just a different genetic research project you're working on.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's a different genetic research project, and we're finding largely
different genes between Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. But actually
there are analogies between them. The genes we're finding, especially
for the if you're like the late onset forms of
the disease. In both cases their damage response problems, so
(24:52):
it's slightly different damage response, but in both of them,
the late late onset disease is predispos by a failure
in damage response. In other words, you start to get
a bit of damage, and those of us who are
not predisposed to get the disease can clear the damage,
but those of us who have the genetic predispositions can't.
(25:15):
So there are analogies. We're not finding exactly the same genes,
but we are seeing those general rules.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Okay, so there's something where there's like when I was
in school years ago, Doc Tubbs was our advanced biology teacher.
Always remember her, and she's said, basically, your whole body
gets rebuilt every seven years, like the cells of repair
and rebuild themselves. So if you have like a a glitch,
she's like, you make a copy over and over. Eventually
it gets a little spot on the paper and then
you're copying the spot and there's another spot. So that's
(25:45):
how she explained to us kids, like how cancer can happen.
There's like a genetic mutation or something.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That's obviously a good teacher, it's teachers like that who
make a big difference to I had a teacher like
that who encouraged me and that led me down the
path I'm on. So you know, teachers, let's have a
shout out for biology teachers.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Oh, biology teachers, all teachers. In my opinions, I like
for folks who want to get involved with the Brain Institute,
are there like opportunities to be volunteers mentors?
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Well, there are several programs that we work with around
the county and now into Broward County where we're working
with kids either in the schools or back at our institute,
and we're always interested in hearing from our community a
what it is they need, what are they lacking with
(26:38):
respect to the education of their kids. We typically are
looking at middle school age, where the kind of science
that we do is we can translate effectively and get
them fascinated about maybe even a career as in the
future as a neuroscientists. But I think that the resources
(27:00):
of our community Engagement in Programming office at the Brain Institute,
headed by doctor Nicole Baggins, is really wonderful. We work
with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium. We work with
family groups and community organizations and foundations, and we're called
on all the time to give our perspective on brain
(27:25):
health and also to instill some enthusiasm and learning at
the same time, a double hit on the youth of
our community.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Well that's fantastic, And I know when we talked before,
you're working in a junction with a bunch of other
folks like Max Planck. Like I just saw they have
the front row series with any of the lecturers. They
just had the one with the brain gut health and
how it affects metabolism.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yes, they do a wonderful job with community education programs.
They're right across the street from the Brain Institute. Sometimes
I tell people to GPS Max Planck instead of us,
but look across the street. But we're great partners. We
train students together, we collaborate and do research together. So
(28:12):
it's really a wonderful community there on the Jupiter campus.
And I should also mention uf Scripts is there as well,
a tremendous resource, and we've been recruiting a few outstanding
scientists from them who are very interested in neurodegenerative disease
as well.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Oh that's great. So you have to like the little
hat trick, the trifecta there that's right, that's right, that's
a good thing. We need more of this. So, Professor Hardy,
what would you recommend for listeners as far as like
maybe some prevention things obviously getting out, taking a walk,
maybe taking some dancing lessons.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
That's what I would recommend for now. But I think
things are changing. You know. Now we have treatments FDA
proved treatments which suck amyloid out of the brain. So
and those have clinically, I mean, they work clinically and
they slow the disease. So I think that's going to
(29:06):
make early diagnosis even more important because I think those
treatments will work better if they're administered early. So I
would say that that's the future. That's the future. So
be aware of the progress that's being made and so
(29:27):
that so that that progress can be applied to you
and your family.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, yeah, so obviously we're talking about early diagnosis, and
some people obviously have the later onset diagnosis. How long
does it take for the disease to progress? I mean
how long do you live? Because for breast cancer in
our area, because of comen and all the education, prognosis
is like ninety five percent to the good.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
So of course, it's very variable from time from the
time of diagnosis to death. That is typically between seven
and ten years. That's very typical, but sometimes it's shorter
and sometimes it's a lot longer. However, what we now know,
and this is rather more recent understanding of the disease,
(30:13):
we know that the amyloid deposition probably started ten or
fifteen years before that diagnosis was made. So the disease
has been if you're like building up for ten or
fifteen years before you have come to clinical attention, and
that's the period where we now need to be able
(30:36):
to identify people and get those treatments in really early.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Is there a way to do brain skian or MRI
that would show that amyloid.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Pet scan it's quite pet scan. Yes, that does work,
and pet scanning is good here in the States. It's expensive,
and you know it's I'm out of date with the figures,
but I'm going to say it's two thousand dollars for
a pet scan that sort of thing. However, there are
(31:09):
blood tests which are now coming about which are nearly
as good as a pet scan pet test, and they're
coming they're not quite here yet. I think they're going
to be here in the next year or two, and
so you'll be able to have if you're like a
blood test, like you have a cholesterol test. Now I
(31:31):
see that coming in the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Well, that's fantastic. So for listeners to keep up to date,
where would they go? Would they follow you guys at
FAU Brain Institute or the Diane Study.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
So I think that you know, the Diane Study is wonderful,
and I'm sure that through University of Washington and Saint Louis,
as Professor Hardy was mentioning, you can find information about
their activities and early onset Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Associate
a wonderful website and set of learning resources there. And
(32:07):
then your local neurologists in this community, particularly or well
trained in this area. They see a lot of elderly patients,
and I think they're going to be very good. The
Brain Institute here in Jupiter is very oriented towards fundamental
biological changes that occur. It's not a clinical center, although
(32:32):
at FAU we have a new Department of Clinical Neurosciences
and one of its major areas is in amyloidoses, which
is a disorder that involves amyloid depositions throughout the body
and particularly like in blood vessels for example, but we
can sweep in brain amyloid deposits as well in that
(32:56):
and so FAU itself is growing to have a prominence.
One of our news centers is this David and Lynn
Nicholson Center for NERD Degenerative Disease or SEARCH. Is headed
by doctor Corin les Masis, who recently took her appointment
as a director, and she's busy working to build that
(33:18):
center and also moving from molecules in the laboratory to
new treatments. So I think you're going to hear a
lot of exciting things coming out of this news center
at FAU.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming in. I can't
wait to hear all more good news from you, guys,
So thank you for your time and for doing such
a cool thing in the community and in the world.
Obviously very much needed and very appreciated.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Thank you for having us. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
You need more information, reach out to me Palm Beach
Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com and I'm happy for it
on all the details and don't forget you can always
download the shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope
everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm dev Nev and this
has been my perspective. Remember life is good, so be
your healthiest view and let's get out there and live it.
(34:04):
Until next week, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week from Palm Beach, Treasure Coast Perspective
iHeart Communities presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Which dad, Now, good morning, Welcome to Calm Beach Treasure
Coast Perspective. I'm your host, Deev Nev. Thanks for spending
your weekend with me. All kinds of great things happening.
This is really neat the East Boyton Blaze Baseball team
is doing their second annual charity golf tournament. So basically,
the folks go out and play golf and raise money
for the kids for their baseball team so they can
(00:25):
travel and do all the training and stuff. So I
think it's really cool. The second annual Blaze Baller charity
golf Tournament is happening on Saturday, May thirty first, once
at the prestigious Banyon Golf Club, So of course, is
raising crucial funds to help the team's journey to the
World Series tournaments in Pigeonforge and Tennessee and Cooperstown, New York.
So they're gonna be going both places, which I think
(00:46):
is fantastic. And for more information about getting tickets, you
can call them at three five two two six two
nineteen hundred or go to the website Blaze b l
A ze Baller b A L L E R. Do
Blazeballer dot com and they're happy to hook you up
with the tickets for you and your friends. Go play
some golf and have fun and raise money for a
(01:07):
good cause while you're doing it. If you feel like
taking a walk outside, you want to head over to
Mount S Botanical Gardens. They've got a great variety of
classes going on right now. There's ard Inthegarden, tai Chi, yoga,
sound baths is. Go to mount dot org to find
out all the different times. Or if you feel like
doing a tea ceremony, you can go to the more
(01:27):
Comby Gardens. They've got a lovely tea ceremony happening on
the weekends to check out. And now, if you like
being outdoors and doing like the hiking and the paddling,
go to SLC Hikes dot org and they've got a
bunch of different hikes in the preserves in Saint Lucie
County waiting for you to take. Pardon. Lots of fun
with that. Now, if you're more of an indoor person
like me, head over to the North Museum of Art.
(01:47):
Lots of great exhibitions happening all kinds of fun family
classes as well on the weekends, and of course Cravis
Center Arts Garage and del Rey Sunrise Theater and the
Churgure Coast Palm Beach Stromworks have a wonderful variety of
show was happening this season, so you can check those
out as well. Speaking getting more information, I want to
introduce my guests for today. I have got Sir John Hardy.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Good morning, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And I have also executive director doctor Randy Blakelee from
the FAU Styles Nicholson Brain Institute. Welcome back, I heb
thanks for coming in. Dr Randy. You and I spoke
several months ago with Pat McNamara and we're talking about
like how Florida's becoming the Brain host, right, and I
know you've worked with some of her colleagues at FAU
and like we were talking before the show, just like a
(02:31):
year ago, you guys did a patent on a so
it was a molecule that's like the beginning part of
finding another treatment perhaps for addiction.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
This was a long and coming discovery that led to
a finding that there might be a path for treatment
of addiction that we didn't know about. It's a metabolic path,
but the protein and the drugs that target it have
been shown to have actions in rodent models of addiction.
(03:05):
Of course, we have to work our way up to humans,
and we still have a lot of work to do
just to understand what we've found. But it is very
exciting because there is a crying need for medications to
treat this substance abuse. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Absolutely, Opia crisis is still a big thing unfortunately. Absolutely,
so if we can find ways to help people, that's fantastic.
And I think that's what's to me one of the
most intriguing and awesome things about the Brain Institute there
at FAU, because you're doing all these well considered cutting
edge things that the public may not know about. So
I know throughout the year you do different seminars that
people can attend. Of course, March is Brainy Days, Brainy Days.
(03:43):
I love that, and of course our brain guru for John.
So you are the leading researcher for the genetic link
to Alzheimer's correct.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, you know, I wouldn't nice to say I'm the
leading I'm certainly a genetic researcher in Alzheimer's disease and
Parkinson's disease. Maybe I'm called the leading because I've been
you know, getting on and I've been doing it for
thirty years, so maybe that's the leading. But yes, and
it's very nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I have to say, I'm so glad you could come in.
So obviously, addiction is an issue. Alzheimer's is a huge issue,
and in our area we have a very large it
seems like thirty thirty three percent maybe aging population, so
they're over seventy so they're prime candidates. Unfortunately for Alzheimer's.
(04:35):
I know it happens to some younger folks. But what
exactly is Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well alzheimer Well, firstly, dementia. Dementia is a gradual loss
of facility one's facilities and coping with the activities of
daily living, and it starts often with a problem with
making new memories. So that's dementia, which we all recognize
in the very elderly. Now Alzheimer's disease is the most
(05:04):
common form of that dementia. It's about half of those
people with dementia will actually have Alzheimer's disease, and that's
characterized by specific changes in the brain something called plaques
made up of a protein called amyloid, and tangles made
up of a protein called tao, and those are things
(05:26):
which can be seen by pathologists after death and they say, yes,
this was the cause of dementia in this person. So
Alzheimer's disease is a specific diagnosis. Dementia is like saying
someone's got cancer. You know, you want to say exactly
what form of cancer? So it's a catchual term.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Oh well, that's good to know. You said. You've been
researching this for like thirty years, and I've found a pathway,
like doctor Blakely found a pathway for the molecule that
can be metabolic for addiction. You've a genified something in
the genes for Alzheimer's.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That's right, we found. So there's all this pathology which
I mentioned, amyloid in the brain, tangles, tau made of
tau protein in the brain, and besides that, there's a
lot of neurons have died. So you've got this complicated pathology.
And what you want to know is how does this
pathology start. If you can put the pathology in order,
(06:24):
then maybe you can find a way to intervene in
that pathology. And what we found, starting with one particular
family where the Alzheimer's disease came on at the age
of about fifty five, is that all affected members of
that family all have mutations in the amyloid protein. And
that allowed us to say, we know where the disease
(06:46):
starts in this family. It starts with amyloid and everything
else is secondary to it. So the simplest explanation is
that amyloid is where it always starts. And that was
the what's called the amyloid hypothesis, and that's been what
drug companies and a lot of researchers have been working
on ever since we made that suggestion in the early
(07:09):
nineteen nineties.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, like you found the Resetta Stone in a way.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, we found exactly how the disease starts in that
particular family, and we've gone on and other groups have
gone on and found very closely related changes in other
families with early onset disease. So we know that in
those families the disease starts with amyloid, and that gives
the drug companies, if you like, something to.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Aim at, that's great. So now obviously that's the genetic
part of it is the nurture versus nature kind of thing.
Does that come into play with dementia.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
To some extent in these families, the people with the
mutations get the disease. It's a one to one relationship, okay,
But generally if you've got an identical twin with Alzheimer's disease,
you're more likely to get the disease. But not certain.
So genetics are part of it, but they're not the
(08:04):
whole story. There must be other I mean, and I
will say, you know, nurture, there must be other factors
playing in there as well. So it isn't a genes
versus environment for most people. I suspect it's genes and environment.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So that is just fascinating. So now as listeners are,
I'm a two time breast cancer survivor. So actually, once
I had the disease, we did the genetic testing to
see if I had the brac of Ie or bracker
to mutation, because that was then determine my course of treatment.
Is there a genetic test yet for dementia or Alzheimer's for.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
These families like the one I started by describing, there
are genetic tests. You know, if you think you're in
one of these families with an early onset form of
the disease where you've got other family members, you should
definitely go and see your neurologist and they could offer
you the test. Yeah, have to be you know, you
(09:01):
have to think carefully about whether you take the test
because it has implications for your children and so on,
which you have. You know, that gets a complicated, it's
a complicated outcome. But there's a fantastic study run here
in the States out of Washington Saint Louis called the
Diane Study all capital.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Letters D I, A N.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's really a great study and that collects all of
these families with these simply inherited forms of disease and
organizes clinical trials in those families. So it's a really
just for these families with the early onset form of
the disease. Genetics can be really very important and also
(09:47):
also part of the solution because they're doing clinical trials
in those people.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh yeah, so I if they can get the medication
or the treatment earlier exactly, then we can stop or
slow the exact question.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know, there's almost no disease where it's better to
treat late in every disease. You know, what doctors want
is to be able to treat early, and of course
in these families, we can start treatment before the first
clinical symptoms from a theoretical point of view. So yes,
(10:21):
these are really great studies. Yeah, as I've said that
in this country, they're led by people from Washington University
in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh, that's fantastic. It's like I know, I spoke to
some of the doctors from researchers from Scripts and they
were actually using tomoxifin, which is after you've been diagnosed
with the breast cancer you take it for five years
as to prevent it from coming back. They were trying
to think of a way to use it problatically to
prevent people from getting the breast cancer at the beginning exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
That's an analogous idea for sure. I should say also
that the guys in the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, they're
part of this Diane study. So for those of view
in Florida that those guys, they're great clinical group up there.
They are also part of this Diane study.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So if someone is exhibiting symptoms, or you have a
friend or a loved one exhibiting symptoms. What are some
of the symptoms they're going to see initially.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
So, the first part of the brain that is hit
is a part of the brain called the hippocampus, and
that part of the brain is basically behind your earlobes.
It's about the same shape as the bottom of your
earlobes too, so it's inside about half an inch behind
your earlobes. And the point of that part of the
brain is to help you make new memories. So when
(11:40):
you learn something you know, the brain makes a decision,
am I going to remember this or not? And that's
the part of the brain that have a central involvement
in that and what happens in people with Alzheimer's disease
often the first symptom is that part of the brain
doesn't work well and they don't make new memories. They
(12:03):
can still remember things from years and years ago, but
they can't make a new memory. They forget well. A
classic symptom is they go out to buy milk in
the morning. Then they come back and think, oh, I'll
go out and buy some milk, and they go out
to the shop again. They haven't remembered that they've done
it already that type of symptom, so the failure to
(12:25):
make of course, you know, it's very difficult to make
that distinction cleanly. I mean, when I woke up this morning,
I couldn't remember where I put my cell phone. You know,
everybody has these types of problems. Everybody so publics.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I can't remember wear a part of the car exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
So it's difficult to be hard and fast about things.
And often what you find is that it's the spouse
of the person who really says no, you've got a problem,
because the person the problem doesn't realize they're doing things twice.
It's the spouse who thinks, God, he's already done that.
(13:07):
You know, That's how it often comes about.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I remember my good friend's grandmother developed dementia and
apparently her husband had just taken care of her and
never said anything to the rest of the family. Yeah,
he just took care of it. When he passed, then
it became a parent and I was living here in
Florida and she was down here. So the goal was
for me to go stay with her and like be
there to help. And they're like, she's like, oh no,
(13:33):
she can't come because she remembered me as like an
eleven year old girl in pigtails sliding down her banister
in the house when we weren't supposed to be doing that,
and she met me as an adult and she could
not make that connection between the old me and the
new meat at all.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's a very I have to say, that's a
very typical Florida story. A lot that happens to a
lot of people here in Florida. That's why it's important
to have a research center in Florida based on looking
at dementia because of course a lot of people move
down here and they leave their children up in New
(14:10):
York or Chicago. A couple come down here. Let's say
the husband dies and he's been the if you like,
the caregiver, and then the wife is suddenly on our
own and in the medium stages of dementia, and nobody
has realized because the husband has been hiding it in
(14:32):
a way. So this is a real Florida story and
why it's really important to have research institutes here in
Florida looking at this problem.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So if you do think you have a love one
is exhibiting symptoms, you won't make an appointment the neurologists
correct definitely, and then they can connect with the folks
in Jacksonville also the male clinic there that needs.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Exactly exactly. I would say people with early onset, people
with on ST before the age of sixty should definitely
think about that. Of course, I think anybody with any
spouse thinking that their spouse has got dementia should take
them for dement for evaluation for sure, but specifically below
(15:17):
the age of sixty, I think that they should be
looking for a referral to a real specialist center.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh definitely, Yeah, Because I have a friend whose father
is now he has to mention they're dealing with that,
and he's great when the mom is there, like when
her moms are with him. If she needs to go out,
he gets very agitated. So that's a big problem for
them because the mom's getting exhausted.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah. I have to say, with the tragic story of
Gene Hackman, that was a tragic story. And you realize
that the wife has been not covering up but covering
for Gene Hackman probably for quite a long time, and
other people have not realized how seriously incapacitated it he was.
(16:00):
That is a really tragic, a really tragic story, but
not unusual, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh no, And because it is Gene Hackman that makes
people more aware.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yes, I agree.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Let's use that example to help people be aware, you know,
and get help.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And my thing is if you always, if you need help,
call to you on one. They can connect you with
all kinds of different services in our area. And if
you don't know a good neurologists, they can help you
find one and then you can go from there and
get care. And I know there's like healthier Boyton Beach happening,
and that is a coalition to get caregivers connected with
(16:39):
more local services to help them because they're caring for
the loved ones. And sometimes it's students in school who
are having problems in school because they're at home taking
care of their grand instead of doing their homework.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
That it is what it is, Yes, it is. And
the other resource, of course is the Alzheimer's Association. And
I'm sure that there's a local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association,
and I'm sure that they can help with pointing people
in the right direction. And so you know, the old
expression had a problem, a problem shared is a problem.
(17:12):
Actually I can't remember the expression, but you know what
I mean. The problem shared is less of a problem,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Oh yeah, definitely. And when I was sick, I never
wanted to ask for help, and then like got sick
again and I asked for help. I was surprised and
so touched by how many people They're like, what do
you need? And I was like, I was home. I
was on the medication watching TV, like I don't know,
all of a sudden, I'm wanting like, you know, chicken
carbonara or whatever, you know, And she's like, you must
(17:42):
have seen an ad on the TV. You know. I
was watching, like brainlessly watching. She's like, it'll be there
in twenty minutes. You'll hear a knock on the door.
And I'm like, I'm not hungry now. She's like, but
you will be. It'll be there. So she just did
like the door dashing while she was talking to me
another friend. When I had to go for some very
invasive treatments, they were really you know, trom for me,
just like what nights, what days you're having treatment? Your
(18:03):
dinner will be waiting for you. When you film your
girld salmon on solid it's going to be there like
they just did it and it was so nice, Doctor
blate Leek. So when people come to the university for
your community programs, how do they do that?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, first thing they should do is go to our website,
which can be found at ibrain I b r AI
N dot FAU dot edu and that will get you
to our web page and there's a block there that
says community and through that link they can see all
(18:40):
of our public programs. This month, the month of March,
as you mentioned, is Brainy Days, and it's filled with
presentations by Professor Hardy here and throughout the month we
welcome the public end to our institute, and we also
go out to the public. We have one program at
(19:02):
the local public library in West Palm Beach, for example,
And so there are many ways in which the Brain
Institute seeks to educate the public about research on brain
disorders or on brain health. Right, so we don't always
need to be talking about it from a disorder perspective.
(19:22):
What are the things one can do to keep your
brain healthy and resilient. That's such a popular theme these days,
and we think there's actually quite a lot of good
neuroscience there because we know the brain has plasticity and
it can change, and that kind of engagement that those
activities are ones that I think we all believe can
(19:44):
keep our brain healthy and stave off illness.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I agree, and I interviewed the folks from the Alzhem's
Association a couple of years ago, and one of the
recommendations they had was, if you haven't go learn country
line dancing some there in the bar, the rest, you know,
the restaurant that teaches it. It's either free or very inexpensive,
but it involves physical movement, new mental pathways to learn
the movement remember it, and socialization because you're meeting people,
(20:13):
so all these things. So it was like it touched
on a lot of touchstones, these that were important. So
I went with friends to do the line dancing and
the really really good looking gentleman behind me is like, girl,
your other left, your other left. So it was a
fun night. I still left and right. So challenging, but.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Well, just to you know, think about it in terms
of the research perspective, and locally here at our Brain Institute,
we have an investigator not named Henriette von Prague and
doctor von Prague's discoveries now a number of years ago
showed that this area of the brain, the hippocampus that
Professor Hardy was discussing, is very plastic, and even more
(20:56):
so in her work, she showed that exercise stimulate the
growth of new neurons, something we don't usually think about.
We think we're born with all the neurons we'll ever have,
But in this particular area of the brain, maybe one
or two others, there is a continual generation of new neurons.
(21:17):
But if you do not push the brain through its paces,
and one of those paces is exercise, then these cells
grow in number, and they grow more complex, and they
form more synapses. And it turns out the mice that
exercise in her experiments are actually smarter in learning and
(21:37):
memory tasks than ones that did not, which is profound.
Profound has profound implications for how we think about treating
these disorders that we're talking about today, and I think
particularly for individuals who may be in that laid on
set kind of dementia Alzheimer's disease risk zone where it
(22:01):
takes a lot of factors coming together to drive risk
having activities like this are even more important than they
are in these early onset cases.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
One of the things I think is really has been
exciting over the last ten years is that I think
people in the Alzheimer field who have been looking at
the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease have realized that heart health
is a really important in terms of risk of dementia.
(22:35):
And so you know, getting people, as we've just discussed,
to exercise, actually again, cut smoking, monitor blood pressure, monitor cholesterol,
and so on and so forth. All of those things
can reduce in terms of late onset disease at least
can reduce your risk of getting dementia. It's really been
(22:59):
a remark and quiet finding people haven't really realized that
that has happened. It's really it's been really good news
that's been hidden.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, part of different groups for fitness health online, and
one of them is like she went to her doctor
and they actually wrote on a real prescription pad walk
five times a week.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, very sensible.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Another research area you're doing, you said as also Parkinson's.
So speaking of celebrities, Michael J. Fox and we actually
have the Boca Ballet Theater here in the community, and
they have a ballet style class that is geared and
they're trained and licensed to do for Parkinson's folks, to
keep the mobile socialized, and they can do it in
(23:41):
person at the ballet theater or via zoom at home
if that works better for them and their caregivers and
their friends and family can go with them. So I
think that's a fantastic service.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
No, it's a great thing to do, a great thing
to do, and very very important to keep people mobile,
otherwise they start to develop other problems as well as
their as their Parkinson's disease. You know, being immobile, it's
bad for you. It's just bad for you. So you know,
it's a very good thing to push Parkinson's disease to
(24:12):
to do a little bit of gentle exercise. Very important.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
So, now the research you've done into the dimension Alzheimer's,
is there a link with that to the Parkinson's or
is that just a different genetic research project you're working on.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's a different genetic research project, and we're finding largely
different genes between Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. But actually
there are analogies between them. The genes we're finding, especially
for the if you're like the late onset forms of
the disease. In both cases their damage response problems, so
(24:52):
it's slightly different damage response, but in both of them,
the late late onset disease is predispos by a failure
in damage response. In other words, you start to get
a bit of damage, and those of us who are
not predisposed to get the disease can clear the damage,
but those of us who have the genetic predispositions can't.
(25:15):
So there are analogies. We're not finding exactly the same genes,
but we are seeing those general rules.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Okay, so there's something where there's like when I was
in school years ago, Doc Tubbs was our advanced biology teacher.
Always remember her, and she's said, basically, your whole body
gets rebuilt every seven years, like the cells of repair
and rebuild themselves. So if you have like a a glitch,
she's like, you make a copy over and over. Eventually
it gets a little spot on the paper and then
you're copying the spot and there's another spot. So that's
(25:45):
how she explained to us kids, like how cancer can happen.
There's like a genetic mutation or something.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That's obviously a good teacher, it's teachers like that who
make a big difference to I had a teacher like
that who encouraged me and that led me down the
path I'm on. So you know, teachers, let's have a
shout out for biology teachers.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Oh, biology teachers, all teachers. In my opinions, I like
for folks who want to get involved with the Brain Institute,
are there like opportunities to be volunteers mentors?
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Well, there are several programs that we work with around
the county and now into Broward County where we're working
with kids either in the schools or back at our institute,
and we're always interested in hearing from our community a
what it is they need, what are they lacking with
(26:38):
respect to the education of their kids. We typically are
looking at middle school age, where the kind of science
that we do is we can translate effectively and get
them fascinated about maybe even a career as in the
future as a neuroscientists. But I think that the resources
(27:00):
of our community Engagement in Programming office at the Brain Institute,
headed by doctor Nicole Baggins, is really wonderful. We work
with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium. We work with
family groups and community organizations and foundations, and we're called
on all the time to give our perspective on brain
(27:25):
health and also to instill some enthusiasm and learning at
the same time, a double hit on the youth of
our community.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Well that's fantastic, And I know when we talked before,
you're working in a junction with a bunch of other
folks like Max Planck. Like I just saw they have
the front row series with any of the lecturers. They
just had the one with the brain gut health and
how it affects metabolism.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yes, they do a wonderful job with community education programs.
They're right across the street from the Brain Institute. Sometimes
I tell people to GPS Max Planck instead of us,
but look across the street. But we're great partners. We
train students together, we collaborate and do research together. So
(28:12):
it's really a wonderful community there on the Jupiter campus.
And I should also mention uf Scripts is there as well,
a tremendous resource, and we've been recruiting a few outstanding
scientists from them who are very interested in neurodegenerative disease
as well.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Oh that's great. So you have to like the little
hat trick, the trifecta there that's right, that's right, that's
a good thing. We need more of this. So, Professor Hardy,
what would you recommend for listeners as far as like
maybe some prevention things obviously getting out, taking a walk,
maybe taking some dancing lessons.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
That's what I would recommend for now. But I think
things are changing. You know. Now we have treatments FDA
proved treatments which suck amyloid out of the brain. So
and those have clinically, I mean, they work clinically and
they slow the disease. So I think that's going to
(29:06):
make early diagnosis even more important because I think those
treatments will work better if they're administered early. So I
would say that that's the future. That's the future. So
be aware of the progress that's being made and so
(29:27):
that so that that progress can be applied to you
and your family.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, yeah, so obviously we're talking about early diagnosis, and
some people obviously have the later onset diagnosis. How long
does it take for the disease to progress? I mean
how long do you live? Because for breast cancer in
our area, because of comen and all the education, prognosis
is like ninety five percent to the good.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
So of course, it's very variable from time from the
time of diagnosis to death. That is typically between seven
and ten years. That's very typical, but sometimes it's shorter
and sometimes it's a lot longer. However, what we now know,
and this is rather more recent understanding of the disease,
(30:13):
we know that the amyloid deposition probably started ten or
fifteen years before that diagnosis was made. So the disease
has been if you're like building up for ten or
fifteen years before you have come to clinical attention, and
that's the period where we now need to be able
(30:36):
to identify people and get those treatments in really early.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Is there a way to do brain skian or MRI
that would show that amyloid.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Pet scan it's quite pet scan. Yes, that does work,
and pet scanning is good here in the States. It's expensive,
and you know it's I'm out of date with the figures,
but I'm going to say it's two thousand dollars for
a pet scan that sort of thing. However, there are
(31:09):
blood tests which are now coming about which are nearly
as good as a pet scan pet test, and they're
coming they're not quite here yet. I think they're going
to be here in the next year or two, and
so you'll be able to have if you're like a
blood test, like you have a cholesterol test. Now I
(31:31):
see that coming in the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Well, that's fantastic. So for listeners to keep up to date,
where would they go? Would they follow you guys at
FAU Brain Institute or the Diane Study.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
So I think that you know, the Diane Study is wonderful,
and I'm sure that through University of Washington and Saint Louis,
as Professor Hardy was mentioning, you can find information about
their activities and early onset Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Associate
a wonderful website and set of learning resources there. And
(32:07):
then your local neurologists in this community, particularly or well
trained in this area. They see a lot of elderly patients,
and I think they're going to be very good. The
Brain Institute here in Jupiter is very oriented towards fundamental
biological changes that occur. It's not a clinical center, although
(32:32):
at FAU we have a new Department of Clinical Neurosciences
and one of its major areas is in amyloidoses, which
is a disorder that involves amyloid depositions throughout the body
and particularly like in blood vessels for example, but we
can sweep in brain amyloid deposits as well in that
(32:56):
and so FAU itself is growing to have a prominence.
One of our news centers is this David and Lynn
Nicholson Center for NERD Degenerative Disease or SEARCH. Is headed
by doctor Corin les Masis, who recently took her appointment
as a director, and she's busy working to build that
(33:18):
center and also moving from molecules in the laboratory to
new treatments. So I think you're going to hear a
lot of exciting things coming out of this news center
at FAU.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming in. I can't
wait to hear all more good news from you, guys,
So thank you for your time and for doing such
a cool thing in the community and in the world.
Obviously very much needed and very appreciated.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Thank you for having us. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
You need more information, reach out to me Palm Beach
Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com and I'm happy for it
on all the details and don't forget you can always
download the shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope
everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm dev Nev and this
has been my perspective. Remember life is good, so be
your healthiest view and let's get out there and live it.
(34:04):
Until next week, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week from Palm Beach, Treasure Coast Perspective
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.