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Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Marks Opening of Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center

As part of its annual “Brainy Days” celebrations, ��������’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute (SNBI) celebrated the launch of the David and Lynn Nicholson Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research.

The evening featured a special reception and dinner for SNBI supporters and collaborators followed by a lecture from eminent Alzheimer’s disease researcher, Sir John Hardy, Ph.D., chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London’s Institute of Neurology.

During the dinner, guests heard from the center’s inaugural director, Corinne Lasmézas, DVM, Ph.D., about her vision to accelerate the work already underway at Florida Atlantic to develop bench-to-bedside treatments for neurodegenerative diseases through multidisciplinary collaboration and cutting-edge technologies.

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Corinne Lasmézas, DVM, Ph.D., is the founding director of the new David and Lynn Nicholson Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research.

To illustrate, Florida Atlantic’s vice president for research, Gregg Fields, Ph.D., described a current clinical trial with the University and research partners to enhance the efficacy of Alzheimer’s disease drugs by enhancing their movement across the blood-brain barrier using focused ultrasound technology coupled to MRI.

In addition, Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., executive director of the SNBI, presented the institute’s first Expanding Horizons Awards to Hardy for his groundbreaking work in uncovering genetic links to Alzheimer’s disease, work that has led to the first mechanism-based treatments for the disease, and to David Nicholson for his transformational generosity and vision in support of brain research and education.

David Nicholson (pictured top) and Sir John Hardy, Ph.D., were the inaugural honorees of the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute's Expanding Horizons Awards.

An overflow crowd attended Hardy’s lecture, “Origins and Treatments of Alzheimer’s Disease,” which charted his decades of work investigating the genetic source behind hereditary forms of Alzheimer’s disease and the ongoing quest to understand the disease process and how to stop it. The engaging lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session and closing reception.

Learn more about the David and Lynn Nicholson Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research: /brain/nicholson-center/.