Page 18 - Abacoa Community News - December '24

Page 18, Abacoa

Science On The Cutting Edge from page 17

Luesch, the Debbie and Sylvia DeSantis Chair in Natural most advanced supercomputing clusters in academia, a team of about 18 researchers plus, over the summer, six
Products Drug Discovery and Development, has amassed a HiPerGator, with the NVIDIA Ampere A100 GPU interns from local high schools.
unique collection of bioactive marine natural products for SuperPod. It has been used to enable structure-based Tian’s team was awarded an $11 million, five-year
numerous disease indications in his Gainesville laboratory drug design and AI approaches to accelerate discoveries, U.S. grant last month to pursue brain research with four
and the CNPD3. He works closely with the Natural Disney said. academic institutions, including Stanford University
Products Discovery Center at The Wertheim UF Scripps Collaboration among Wertheim UF Scripps and UF and the Allen Institute in Seattle. She discussed the
Institute, which has one of the world’s largest collection medicinal chemistry faculty began soon after the Jupiter grant, her reasons for moving to South Florida and how
of microorganisms with potential use as medicines or the campus joined UF in 2022. The campuses jointly host brain chemistry works during a wide-ranging Stet News
inspiration for medicines. UF’s popular Drug Discovery Symposium, Luesch interview last month. She spoke of the inroads she has
noted, and faculty members developed joint research helped make in the study of brain chemistry and how little
projects that have already been funded. Collaboration will scientists know about the brain.
grow as the campuses develop shared graduate student While doctors routinely prescribe medicines to act on
opportunities; he added. Florida is a fertile training ground the brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin, she said,
for students who want to develop high-impact careers in “We actually have no clue about the exact mechanism.”
chemical biology and drug development, Disney agreed. While patients often are told their behavior stems from
“Discovering new medicines is challenging work that “an unbalanced concentration of neurochemicals,” it’s
requires the expertise of many. There are real synergies not that simple, she said. “Our brain is not just the fluid
for our scientists and students as we build collaboration of those neurochemicals. It’s not a soup. It’s actually a
among departments,” Disney said. “I am confident that the very well-organized system and there’s really precision
ultimate beneficiaries will be people anxiously awaiting — temporal, spatial — like where and when they release.
new treatment options.” So it’s a very, very controlled system that we have no clue
About The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute how this happened.”
The scientists of The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps
Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology Monitoring Brain Signals
advance human health through biomedical research,
drug discovery, and clinical studies, while providing
outstanding educational opportunities to inspire and train
the next generation of scientists. Founded by Scripps
Research, the Jupiter-based institute joined the University
of Florida, a top public university, in 2022. Learn more
at https://wertheim.scripps.ufl.edu/.
About The University Of Florida College Of Pharmacy
Research activities in the UF College of Pharmacy
span the entire life cycle of a drug and include broad
interest areas such as medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics,
pharmacology, clinical and translational research, and
pharmaceutical outcomes and policy. Researchers
“Together, our unique infrastructure in natural product in the college are pioneering advancements in drug
discovery, RNA structure-function research, and small- discovery, marine natural products, pharmacology,
molecule targeting, means we can elevate our work to new disease modeling, pharmacokinetics/pharmacometrics,
heights to address many medical challenges, including pharmacogenomics, pharmacoepidemiology, and patient Scientist Lin Tian points out the way fluorescent markers
aggressive cancers and incurable infectious diseases,” safety, while also advancing AI-driven solutions and can help brain researchers track the working of the brain.
Luesch said. exploring new frontiers in space to develop innovative
Also boosting the cross-campus collaborations, drug therapies. Learn more at https://pharmacy.ufl.edu/. The grant, coming after a 40 percent reduction in
Wertheim UF Scripps chemistry faculty have joint faculty support for the Obama-era BRAIN Initiative, aims to build
appointments with the College of Pharmacy’s medicinal tools to monitor brain electrical signals and levels of brain
chemistry program. chemicals in real-time.
“The opportunity to collaborate with UF’s Department During her postdoctoral training at Howard Hughes
of Medicinal Chemistry through shared faculty and joint Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus, Tian played
appointments is synergistic for all of us,” Disney said. a critical role in developing the calcium sensor GCaMP,
“Both programs will benefit as we harness the unique making it possible to optically measure the brain’s activity
skills and resources of each campus to do the best and Jupiter Researcher Awarded during behavior. The approach involves lighting up
most exciting science we can, and train the next generation nerve cells, so they can be viewed through a tiny camera
of scientists.” $11 Million To Unlock threaded into the brain. “This technological achievement
Members of both departments are also part of the UF has transformed the field of neuroscience,” Max Planck
Health Cancer Center, one of 72 National Cancer Institute- Secrets Of The Human Brain said in a news release touting the BRAIN Initiative grant
designated cancer centers. The Jupiter and Gainesville from the National Institute of Mental Health and the
campuses possess world-class scientific core facilities that By Joel Engelhardt National Institutes of Health.
power research on new medicines from target validation Scientist Lin Tian Moved To Jupiter Last Year To Take Max Planck, the German-based institution, came to
to in vivo studies. These include genomics, proteomics, Advantage Of The Pure Science Setting At Abacoa’s Max Abacoa in 2008 with $190 million in state and local
histology, and structural biology tools, including cryo- Planck Florida Institute For Neuroscience financial support, on the heels of the $580 million effort
electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, drug Lin Tian, born in China but living in America since to woo The Scripps Research Institute from San Diego to
metabolism and pharmacokinetics, and a high-throughput college, moved to Jupiter last year to be scientific director Jupiter. While Scripps has relinquished its holdings here
robotic molecular screening center. These resources, more at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. to the University of Florida, Max Planck remains. It has
typical of a pharmaceutical company, enable scholars Tian, 45, transferred to Max Planck in October from the nine labs, including Tian’s, and more than 140 full-time
to go farther faster with their research, to help patients University of California-Davis. By moving to Max Planck, employees.
awaiting cures. Computational resources are second to Tian is free to focus on research rather than devoting time Tian has been in the country since pursuing her
none as well. The University of Florida has one of the to the classroom as she did at UC-Davis. doctorate in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology
from Northwestern University in 2001. She is married and
NEED A/C? We’ve Got You Covered! the mother of two sons. She uprooted for Max Planck,
she said, because of its focus on discovery.

“WE SHOW

UP!”

Max Planck scientist Lin Tian adorns her Jupiter office with
images of neural networks captured in her work studying
neurotransmitters in the brain.
Not only neural pathways, but also art produced by her sons
“The reason I came here is to really focus on research adorn the office of Max Planck scientist Lin Tian in Jupiter.
Call Today for a FREE estimate! for the next 10 years to make a groundbreaking discovery,”
561.575.2173 she said from her Jupiter office. Science On The Cutting Edge on page 19
231 Jupiter St., Jupiter, FL Tian heads a lab where scientists can insert tiny
www.MiklosAir.com cameras into living brains to answer some of the most
indecipherable questions known to humankind. She leads