Page 15 - Abacoa Community News - November '21

Abacoa, Page 15

FAU Features from page 14 This gift will accelerate FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute’s The foundation’s vision is to see all community residents have
drive toward a new era of neuroscience research, education opportunities to thrive and reach their full health potential.
the program will be transformative, attracting distinguished and community engagement, supporting the recruitment of “Palm Health Foundation is widely recognized as a leader
neuroscientists and the neuroscientists of tomorrow to Palm a nationally prominent computational neuroscientist to lead in advancing research, innovative technologies and community
Beach County,” said Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., executive director, the PCBSH, as well as PCBSH program activities, including inclusion to improve the health of Palm Beach County residents,”
FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. “This phenomenal the computational training of Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute said Chris Delisio, vice president of institutional advancement
opportunity will showcase Palm Beach County as a leader in neuroscience graduate students; the procurement of advanced and CEO of the FAU Foundation. “We’re honored and privileged
advanced neuroscience research that can enhance the lives of technologies needed for faculty research; and resources to foster to be the beneficiary of this most recent example of leadership in
our citizens and the health of our communities, bringing hope collaborative research among computer scientists, neuroscientists action. The Palm Health Foundation is a valued partner to FAU.”
to those diagnosed with brain health challenges.” and brain health specialists appointed across multiple FAU Funding and naming opportunities are available for all levels
colleges, research institutes and FAU campuses. of FAU’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute facility, which is set to
“FAU and Palm Health Foundation have a longstanding open in spring 2022. For more information, visit www.fau.edu/
partnership in promoting better brain health and wellness in the ibrain. For more information on Palm Health Foundation, visit
community through the ‘Brainy Days’ series, ‘Train the Brain’ www.palmhealthfoundation.org.
campaign events, and ‘Research in Motion’ lectures,” said Patrick
McNamara, president and CEO of Palm Health Foundation. “The Sleep Research Earns FAU
foundation’s support of the Program in Computational Brain Scientist ‘Alzheimer’s
Science and Health will ignite additional innovation in research,
education and community engagement in the brain health field, Association’ Award
and will inspire those beyond.”
Palm Health Foundation is a fundraising and grantmaking By Gisele Galoustian
organization that exists to improve health in Palm Beach County. Florida Atlantic University’s Carmen Varela, Ph.D.,
recently received the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Research
Fellowship to Promote Diversity” award to investigate the
relationship between sleep patterns and one’s overall brain
health. Poor sleep quality is associated with Alzheimer’s
disease (AD) and other dementias from early stages and
is thought to contribute to the progression of AD. With
this three-year, $149,871 award, Varela will develop
new indicators to monitor quality of sleep in deep brain
structures affected in AD.
“Sleep disruption is not only distressful for patients with
Alzheimer’s disease, it’s disruptive for their caregivers,” said
Varela, an assistant professor of psychology, FAU Charles
E. Schmidt College of Science, John D. MacArthur Campus
at Jupiter, and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain
Institute. “This Alzheimer’s Association fellowship will
support the development of noninvasive methods to monitor
sleep quality, which will provide a key advance to assess if
new candidate drugs truly restore sleep quality in the brain.”
Varela’s research centers on the role of the thalamus,
a critical hub, which regulates sleep-dependent functions,
such as the brain’s capacity to stabilize memories while
we rest. The thalamus is interconnected both anatomically
and functionally with several cognitive areas. It is a key
player in coordinating memory transfer from one region
to another for long-term preservation, and also routing
information into different brain regions when individuals
are awake. Cellular activity within the thalamus may be
critical to ensuring a restful sleep, and to prepare people
to tackle cognitive demands during wakefulness.
Varela will use animal models to develop indicators of
sleep brain quality that are based on existing technologies,
some of which could be employed at home, such as
fitness trackers. These new indicators could speed up the
development of sleep treatments to improve the quality of
life and the progression of AD. Because sleep disruption
also occurs in other dementias, the indicators developed
could positively impact additional diseases.
The Alzheimer’s Association, the largest nonprofit of
AD research, funds brilliant and innovative early-career
scientists such as Varela with the hope that these projects
will generate new data and strategies that will lead to
future grant applications to government and other funding
sources, including larger grants available through the
Alzheimer’s Association. The Alzheimer’s Association
makes it a high priority to support researchers from
underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
Varela earned her doctorate in computational neuroscience
from The University of Chicago and completed her
postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
Having lost her grandfather to AD, her connection to the
disease is more than just professional.
“There are changes to sleep that may occur very early on
in the progress of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
that actually predict how the symptoms will evolve,” said
Varela. “I am hopeful that this research will open the door
to noninvasive methods that we can use during sleep to
try to predict – or perhaps even prevent – the disease and
diminish its evolution to a degree.”