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Discovery
‘Offsets’
Disease
FAU Scientists Patent Protective Compound to Slow Brain Degeneration
T
wo FAU professors recently discovered a compound with the potential to protect brain degeneration, which impacts millions of Americans every year who suffer from diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.
BY J e n i f e r Ra n k i n
Salvatore Lepore, Ph.D., a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, and colleague Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D., a professor of biological sciences, both in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, are named inventors on the patent, along with members from both of their research teams. 12
MASTERMINDS
This work is funded by their collaborative $440,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant where Lepore serves as the principal investigator (PI) and DawsonScully as the co-PI. Dawson-Scully is also an associate vice-president for strategic initiatives in the Division of Academic Affairs.
What is the Invention? Powering the brain requires a substantial amount of oxygen — about 20 percent of total oxygen the body needs to fuel itself. These brain cells use oxygen to perform intense metabolic activities that generate free radicals, which in turn, help support brain cell growth and cognitive
