Page 20 - Abacoa Community News - April '23

Page 20, Abacoa

The Scripps Research Institute from page 19 selectively and avidly to the toxic RNA, forcing it to be Metro areas such as McAllen, Texas; San Jose, Calif.; San
degraded by the body’s own natural processes,” Bush said. Francisco; and Honolulu are among the most renter-friendly
Disney said he felt grateful for the recognition, noting Patients being treated for ALS at the Johns Hopkins markets nationwide with price-to-rent ratios well above the
the idea of trying to make drugs that target RNA was once University School of Medicine’s Laboratory for local historic averages. Those areas could face sharp price
viewed as impossible. Neurodegenerative Research donated skin samples for reductions in the months ahead.
“I have been blessed with an excellent research research purposes. These skin cells were genetically reverted A market’s price-to-rent ratio is measured by dividing
environment at this institution, where curiosity-driven, into stem cells after which Disney’s team treated the cells the average home price by the average annual rent. The
convention-defying research is encouraged,” Disney over several months to develop into neurons. calculation is compared to the historic price-to-rent ratio for
said. “This environment, created by our fabulous faculty “Four different patients’ cells were used for the the market to determine if owning or renting is preferred.
colleagues, staff and the members of the laboratory have assessment, all of which showed dose-dependent Price-to-rent ratios above the local historic average indicate
made our progress possible. This recognition is theirs reduction in known ALS markers while having no off- renting is better, while scores below the historic average
as well and will empower further research as we work target effects,” Bush said. suggest buying is better.
to move our ideas forward to positively impact human They also tested the compound in mice bred to have the “Traditionally homeowners have been able to build
health.” C9orf72 mutation and show behaviors and blood markers wealth faster than renters, but those who rent can still build
typical of ALS. The mice were treated daily for two weeks a sizable nest egg if they are disciplined,” said Eli Beracha,
Genetic Cause Of ALS And Dementia after which the mice displayed significantly reduced markers Ph.D., a co-author and director of FIU’s Hollo School of
Repaired By RNA-Targeting Strategy for disease and improved health. Real Estate. “In order to replicate equity creation, renters
Developed At UF Scripps The next steps will be to further study the compound’s should invest the money they otherwise would have spent
Scientists at UF Scripps Biomedical Research have effects on cellular health and rodent models of C9 ALS, on maintaining their homes.”
developed a potential medicine for a leading cause of ALS Disney said. The evidence so far shows that this approach Only two markets (Springfield, Mass., and Cape Coral-
and dementia that works by eliminating disease-causing represents a notable advance in the field of RNA drug Fort Myers, Fla.) have negative price-to-rent scores or
segments of RNA. The compound restored the health of discovery, he said. discounts, implying owning is, on average, better than renting
neurons in the lab and rescued mice with the disease. “We show for the first time that you can make brain- in financial terms.
The potential medication is described this week in the penetrant molecules that eliminate toxic gene products,” Renters in Springfield paid an average of about $1,615 in
scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Disney said. “The fact that we have highlighted this in January, a year-over-year increase of 14.73 percent, leading
Sciences. It is designed to be taken as a pill or an injection, ALS shows that this can be a general approach for other all 100 markets analyzed by the Waller Weeks & Johnson
said the lead inventor, Professor Matthew Disney, Ph.D., neurological diseases, including Huntington’s, forms of Rental Index.
chair of the UF Scripps chemistry department. Importantly, muscular dystrophy and others.” Meanwhile, Cape Coral is still recovering from the
experiments showed that the compound is small enough to effects of Hurricane Ian in September. The Category 4 storm
cross the blood-brain barrier, a hurdle other approaches have Florida Atlantic University destroyed or badly damaged homes and rentals that have
failed to clear, he said. since been taken out of the housing stock, worsening the
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, progressively Study: Renting Beats Buying In Vast supply problem that already existed in Southwest Florida.
destroys neurons that control muscles, leading to worsening Majority Of United States “In these two markets, home prices are falling, if only
muscle loss and eventually death. The mutation, a leading By Joshua Glanzer slightly, while rents are rising at an astounding rate,”
cause of inherited ALS, is referred to as “C9 open reading Despite widespread Johnson said.
frame 72,” or C9orf72. This mutation also leads to one form home price declines, The BH&J monthly report is produced by Johnson,
of frontotemporal dementia, a brain disease that causes renting still makes Beracha and FIU College of Business Dean William Hardin,
the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes to shrink, resulting more sense than owning Ph.D. It combines raw housing prices and rents from Zillow’s
in changes in personality, behavior and speech, ultimately in the vast majority Housing Value Index and Zillow’s Observed Rental Index.
resulting in death. of U.S. housing markets, The shortage of both rental and for-sale units is driving
The C9orf72 mutation features an expanded repeat of according to researchers at high rents and home prices. The construction of needed
six “letters” of genetic code, GGGGCC, on chromosome 9, Florida Atlantic University units will help bring the housing crisis under control, the
which may be duplicated between 65 and tens of thousands and Florida International researchers said.
of times. When this mutated stretch of RNA is present, it University.
results in the production of toxic proteins that sicken and The Beracha, Hardin & Max Planck Florida Institute
eventually kill affected neurons. The compound developed Johnson National Price-to-Rent Enhancing Diversity In The Neuroscience
by Disney’s lab targets the RNA carrying those genetic Ratios Monthly Report for
instructions, thus preventing the toxic proteins from being January shows that homes still Workforce: Insights From NIH Director Dr.
assembled in the cells. are selling for more than they Marguerite Matthews
“The compound works by binding to and using natural should in 97 of 99 markets, an The Network
cellular processes to eliminate that disease-causing RNA by indication that renting is more favorable than homeownership. for Women in
alerting the cell’s degradation machinery to dispose of it as “Home prices are down, but they are still too high and Science (NWiS),
waste,” Disney said. near record levels so we expect further price corrections based at Max
in the future,” said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., a co-author of Planck Florida
Symposium Explored RNA And Its the report and an economist in FAU’s College of Business. Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), welcomed Dr. Marguerite
Therapeutic Potential on Jan. 17 And 18, 2023 “While rents also are on the rise, consumers are better off Matthews of the National Institute of Health (NIH) for a
This approach could conceivably work for other financially in most areas if they hold off buying until home
untreatable neurological diseases in which toxic RNA play price declines level off.” Max Planck Florida Institute on page 21
a role, he added.
The paper’s first author is Jessica Bush, a graduate
student within the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and
Biological Sciences at UF Scripps, who works in Disney’s
lab. Other co-authors included Leonard Petrucelli, Ph.D., of
the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and Raphael Benhamou, a
former Disney lab postdoctoral researcher now on the faculty
of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“This was identified from a large screen of compounds
from the Calibr library at Scripps Research, which is
comprised of 11,000 drug-like molecules,” Bush said.
From that initial screen, they identified 69 compounds
that inhibited translation of the toxic C9 mutation. They
then further refined the compounds by eliminating those that
could not cross the blood-brain barrier based on size, weight,
structure and other factors. This resulted in 16 candidate
compounds, one of which was selected for further refinement
based on its potency and structural simplicity.
“A battery of tests in neurons derived from ALS patients
and in vivo models showed that compound 1 bound

Jessica Bush, a graduate student at UF Scripps Biomedical
Research, confers with her mentor, chemistry department
chair Matthew Disney, in their Jupiter laboratory.