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MIND MATTERS
Florida Atlantic University’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute and the FAU Neuroscience Building bring a world-class, state-of-the art neuroscience research facility to the Jupiter community.
MATTERS
FAU’S STILES-NICHOLSON BRAIN INSTITUTE SEEKS TO BREAK MAJOR GROUND IN NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH
BY PAIGE BOWERS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON NUTTLE
Randy D. Blakely, PhD, executive director of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute
e’ve sent a man to the moon and explored the far reaches of our solar system, but we’ve yet to truly make sense of the complex galaxy between our ears. With its hundred-billion nerve cells and trillions of synapses, the brain powers our body and provides us with a sense of self. However, it rarely reveals secrets as to how it becomes diseased and disordered. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute in Jupiter are primed to change that this fall, when they move into a state-of-the-art facility that will further empower them to conduct life-changing investigations into everything from Alzheimer’s to autism.
“Every family, including ours, has had issues with mental illness and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s,” says David J. S. Nicholson, who donated $9.22 million to FAU for the neuroscience building’s construction. “One in six families is affected by neurodegenerative diseases, either directly or indirectly. It’s a devastating situation, and I hope that the StilesNicholson Brain Institute will drive critical research in this area, while stimulating interest among young people to pursue this as a career.”
In 2015, FAU identifi ed four academic research investment areas within its strategic plan, neuroscience being one of them. The university recruited Randy D. Blakely, PhD, to lead the Brain Institute, with the ultimate goal of stimulating neuroscience research, education, and discovery for the benefi t of society, all while enhancing the public’s understanding of brain research and its impact on the community. Prior to the opening of the new Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute building, neuroscience researchers at the FAU Jupiter campus were packed into two small research buildings, with a lack of research space available to advancing neuroscience and education to the next level. Blakely says he knew about FAU’s aspirations and was excited to play a role in developing that vision, especially with the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Department of Neuroscience at UF Scripps nearby. As far as he was concerned, South Florida was fertile ground for what was to come.
“There’s an aging demographic here, so there’s a lot of interest in aging well or Alzheimer’s,” Blakely notes. “There has also been an issue with opioids, so there’s an awareness of the need to understand the impact of substance use and abuse on the brain. There’s also more activism here in terms of helping people with mental illness or brain
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Top right: Rendering of the FAU Neuroscience Building’s entry lobby
Opposite page, inset: Randy D. Blakely, PhD; former FAU Board of Trustees member Robert “Bob” Stilley; State Representative MaryLynn Magar; David J. S. Nicholson; Associate Vice President for FAU Research Communications Cara Perry; and FAU President John Kelly during a walk-through of the new facility.
disorders. In that sense, the ground was tilled a bit for me already.”
The trick was planting the seeds. The groundbreaking work Blakely and FAU hoped to do in a new building was not going to happen without fi nancial support. On top to happen without fi nancial support. On top of Nicholson’s donation, the Florida legisof Nicholson’s donation, the Florida legislature committed $35 million to the conlature committed $35 million to the construction of the Brain Institute’s three-story struction of the Brain Institute’s three-story headquarters, which includes more than headquarters, which includes more than 4,000 square feet of open lab space, an interactive auditorium, and dedicated centers for autism research, resiliency studies, cellular neuroimaging, brain disease modeling, and neurobehavioral analysis. Nicholson also funded a namesake neuroscience professorship, held by Blakely, and a Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research that will focus on better understanding and treating Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. “It’s going to be transformative,” Blakely says of the 58,000-squarefoot building. “It will give us the ability to recruit and house faculty from diverse disciplines, encouraging collaborations that would COURTESY OF FAU not otherwise happen.” Without question, neuroscience is a great fusion of research disciplines. Among other things, it requires an understanding of how molecules work on targets in the brain, how brain circuits develop and communicate with each other, and how behavior emerges from matter. Every perspective one can possibly get on brain function or dysfunction is meaningful because everything from a fever to a car accident to a bad day at work can impact the organ in some way. at work can impact the organ in some way. Having an immune specialist working under Having an immune specialist working under the same roof as someone focused on mood the same roof as someone focused on mood research, for example, can lead to new discovresearch, for example, can lead to new discoveries into why we feel sad when we’re sick. eries into why we feel sad when we’re sick.
In a sense, these linkages between research In a sense, these linkages between research specialties are akin to creating a new neural specialties are akin to creating a new neural pathway in the brain. And if you envision the pathway in the brain. And if you envision the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute as the brain Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute as the brain itself, these connections will only create a itself, these connections will only create a powerful environment for learning more powerful environment for learning more about this 3-pound puzzle. about this 3-pound puzzle.
Researcher Henriette van Praag, PhD, is Researcher Henriette van Praag, PhD, is among those investigating the brain’s countamong those investigating the brain’s countless facets at FAU. She has devoted much of less facets at FAU. She has devoted much of her career to studying the positive impacts of her career to studying the positive impacts of exercise on its health. Prior to the new center’s exercise on its health. Prior to the new center’s construction, van Praag says she would have construction, van Praag says she would have to move mice between buildings for different to move mice between buildings for different aspects of her research, which added extra aspects of her research, which added extra variables. The new institute will enable her to variables. The new institute will enable her to have everything her “scientifi c life depends have everything her “scientifi c life depends on” under one roof.
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“I feel so supported here and have wonderful colleagues like Dr. Blakely, who has provided startup funds for my research,” van Praag says. “With the infrastructure, facilities, and equipment, this is a pleasant and productive place for me to work.”
Ning Quan, PhD, believes the new building will make it easier for him to collaborate with researchers such as van Praag to determine how infl ammatory diseases impact neurogenesis. These partnerships yield richer discoveries, he notes, because they deepen the understanding of how this complex organ functions.
“We are doing [this research] in the context of a major university and, at the same time, educating young people who are being advised by leading scientists,” Blakely adds.
After working at a traumatic brain injury clinic, Claudia Koroma was inspired to pursue a PhD in neuroscience and enrolled at FAU because of its interdisciplinary approach. She currently works in van Praag’s lab, looking at potential methods to reverse memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients.
“The last year has been wonderful,” Koroma says. “I have been able to meet a lot of my professors, who are readily available. Being able to make those connections and get this lab experience has been benefi cial to me because I’ve been able to practice different techniques and learn different ways to execute research.”
Blakely says that since his arrival at FAU, he has seen a surge of undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students seeking help with honors projects. Back then, there wasn’t enough faculty to help students with their research questions. Now, he hopes that a formal research building will allow him to recruit more scientists who can guide and inspire young minds.
“We’re hiring the double and triple threats,” he says. “We’re looking for scientists who love students and love to educate them but have world-class talent as researchers and also want to be a part of the community.”
Middle and high school students are a part of this vision. The Stiles-Nicholson STEM Teacher Academy will provide top STEM training to educators, starting initially with those in Palm Beach County, with the goal to expand. “We do some things on our own
Clockwise from far left: David J. S. Nicholson; rendering of the FAU Neuroscience Building’s interaction auditorium; conceptual rendering of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.
JASON NUTTLE
—RANDY D. B KELY, PHD
Above: Claudia Koroma, a PhD candidate; Ning Quan, PhD; and Henriette van Praag, PhD, are part of the team at FAU’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute conducting innovative neuroscience research in a multitude of disciplines.
to push science down to middle schoolers,” Blakely notes. “But this program will help us train teachers throughout the year and give them exposure to us.” In addition, the ASCEND (Advancing STEM Community Engagement through Neuroscience Discovery) Program, also funded by Nicholson’s generous gift, seeks to increase access to and interest in STEM fi elds for the next generation of scientists.
Technology, of course, will aid these explorations. For example, the Center for Cellular Neuroimaging will house state-ofthe-art Nikon imaging equipment that will empower researchers to take deep, dynamic images of the brain. The Brain Institute has been a Nikon Center of Excellence since its inception in 2016, and this partnership has enabled researchers to track stress and infl ammation effects throughout the brain, examine the effects of genetic mutations that lead to Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease, and study brain cells that multiply throughout life as a result of exercise. It’s research that could potentially help pharmaceutical manufacturers design drugs that can prohibit, or at least slow down, progressions of certain brain diseases.
Van Praag says researchers are eager to be a part of the broader community’s discussions about brain health, as well as a key player in pioneering solutions. After all, understanding depression, addiction, aging disorders, and stress requires open communication with psychologists, social workers, educators, and engineers who understand the link between brain function and social interactions.
“Technology is important, but it’s still necessary to bring problem solvers together,” Blakely says. And while the sky is the limit, he adds that lofty goals require fi nancial support.
“We’re taking a moonshot attitude right now when it comes to supporting our scientists,” he says. “The kind of high-risk, high-reward activities we seek to do will require corporate and government support because the expense is signifi cant. And we can’t say that advances in treating things like drug abuse or autism have a rank, because all of them are important.”
Nicholson believes his namesake institute, combined with Max Planck and Scripps, has the potential to make a real global impact in neuroscience research.
“We’ve got a unique neuroscience hub in Jupiter right now,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing the great discoveries and research that emerge from it. We’ve seen and felt space, but now it’s time to learn more about the 6-inch space between our ears.” «
