CONTACT: Gail Bellamy
(850) 644-2373, gail.bellamy@med.fsu.edu
or
Doug Carlson
(850) 694-3735; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu
 

May 29, 2013
 

BUS TRIPS GIVE FSU MEDICAL STUDENTS
GLIMPSE OF RURAL MEDICINE
 

Friday, first-year College of Medicine students will board buses and fan out across North Florida to explore rural health care. It’s the FSU College of Medicine Rural Education Opportunity Program (REOP), sponsored by the Florida Blue Foundation. The idea is to increase students’ familiarity with rural health — and the possibility that they will practice rural medicine — by exposing them early to rural communities and health providers. 
 

This year, four buses each will depart with 30 first-year students, plus faculty and staff from the College of Medicine, other FSU colleges and Florida A&M University. The destinations are:
 

•    Graceville and Marianna in Jackson County, where they will visit a VA outpatient clinic.
•    Cairo in Grady County, Ga.
•    Perry in Taylor County.
•    And Crawfordville in Wakulla County, where they will visit a senior services center.
 

In addition to visiting rural hospitals, health departments and medical practices, they will meet and hear from primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, administrators, community leaders, and from second-year medical students who participated in the 2012 REOP.
 

Buses will depart:

FRIDAY, MAY 31
8 A.M. (CAIRO);
8:15 A.M. (MARIANNA) and
8:45 A.M. (PERRY AND CRAWFORDVILLE)
(All buses expected to return around 3 p.m.)
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
1115 W. CALL ST.
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.

Directions: From downtown, travel west on Tennessee Street and turn left on Stadium Drive. The College of Medicine is at Stadium Drive and Call Street. Press parking will be available by RSVP.
 

Visit http://med.fsu.edu/index.cfm?page=ruralMedicalPrograms.home for more information about the College of Medicine’s rural health programs.
 

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CONTACT: Julie Jordan, FSU College of Medicine
(850) 645-9699; julie.jordan@med.fsu.edu
 

June 2013
 

FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE RESEARCHER LINKS
EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS TO SOCIAL BONDING
 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — People who have autism, schizophrenia or similar disorders often lack the ability to form secure relationships. If that condition could be addressed at the molecular level, their overall health and quality of life could improve.
 

Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Mohamed Kabbaj published his latest social-relationship discoveries in Nature Neuroscience following a comprehensive study of brain behavior and partner preference.
 

Kabbaj studied chemical changes, or “epigenetic mechanisms,” that loosen chromatin structure in the prairie vole — a small mammal that typically forms lifelong bonds after a 16- to 24-hour mating period. Prairie voles, which protect one another from intruders and share parental duties, are often used as models to study social bonding, attachment and love in other animals, including humans.
 

“Prairie voles develop social monogamy,” said Kabbaj, an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Sciences. “They cheat occasionally, but they always go back to their mate. That’s what makes them unique.”
 

This pair-bonding is associated with changes in brain chemistry after mating. With a drug injection, Kabbaj and his team were able to produce the same change even though the voles had not mated.
 

“It’s the first time anyone’s shown any epigenetic basis for partner preference,” Jeremy Day, a University of Alabama at Birmingham neuroepigeneticist who was not involved in the study, told The Scientist.
 

During the experiment, Kabbaj and his team first paired virgin female voles with male partners for six hours without allowing them to mate. Then they injected histone deacetylase inhibitors into the pleasure center of the brain, or nucleus accumbens. That injection caused the DNA and the proteins surrounding it (histones) to relax, allowing for increased expression of genes related to pleasure.
 

After the cohabitation period and the injection, the female vole displayed partner preference behavior for her paired male as if mating had occurred.
 

Kabbaj and his lab then examined the voles’ brains and saw the same neurobiological changes that take place in nature after the normal mating period: increased levels of the expression of genes related to pleasure and reward at the receptors that cause social attachment.
 

To determine whether the six-hour cohabitation period was required to produce the result, Kabbaj’s team tested the animals without pairing them with a male. They discovered that six-hour cohabitation plus the drug was required to create the same permanent brain changes as seen after mating.
 

The next question Kabbaj and colleagues want to answer is what mechanisms maintain this bond for life.
“In humans, it has been shown that this social attachment — the formation of this strong couple, a healthy couple — leads to an increase in life expectancy, a reduction in psychological disorders, a stronger immune system and a stronger cardiovascular system,” Kabbaj said.
 

This advancement in understanding social attachment in light of epigenetic factors will further knowledge about how certain drugs can help those who lack these social abilities, improving their relationships and overall health.
 

“It should not be long before we can apply these findings to humans, because some of these drugs are used to treat cancer, epilepsy and other diseases already,” Kabbaj said. “One just has to study social attachment in patients treated with these drugs and expand them to other psychopathologies, like autism and schizophrenia. Social bonding may occur.”
 

The study was co-authored by FSU psychology Professor Zuoxin Wang, as well as researchers Hui Wang, Florian Duclot and Yan Liu, all of whom are associated with FSU’s interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience. The study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health.
 

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CONTACT: Julie Jordan, College of Medicine
(850) 645-9699; julie.jordan@med.fsu.edu
 

July 2013

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER AWARDED GRANT
FOR MANAGING BRAIN TUMORS, NOT DESTROYING THEM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The problem with cancer treatments designed to kill a tumor is that they can kill the patient’s quality of life as well. Now a Florida State University College of Medicine researcher is shifting the focus from eradicating brain tumors to managing them.
 

Eric Laywell, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, has received a $430,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore a new therapeutic agent and treatment method for brain cancer.
 

“Managing the tumor like a disease and improving quality of life and relationships during that time is the legitimate end point,” Laywell said. “The focus is not necessarily a cure but making patients’ lives easier.”
 

The therapeutic agent Laywell and his lab are using is EdU (pronounced E-D-U). It is typically used to label and track cells that divide, but Laywell’s team discovered that over a longer period of time, EdU has a toxic effect: The cells divide more slowly and sometimes die. When they tried it on cancer cells, EdU had the same effect.
 

“It worked on every kind of cancer cell,” Laywell said. “It will also cross the blood-brain barrier, which can be a limitation for drugs, so we decided to look at brain cancer first.”
 

The treatment method involves varying doses of the drug based on how the tumor responds. If the tumor continues to grow, the dose is increased. If growth slows, the dose is lowered.
 

The idea is to manage the tumor so that there are always treatable cells, preventing the emergence of an untreatable, drug-resistant tumor. The hope is that this method will also improve quality of life.
 

The research focuses on glioblastoma — the most common primary brain tumor (meaning it starts in the brain). The normal aggressive therapy for such tumors includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Even with those therapies the typical prognosis is only a little more than a year, thus the need for new forms of treatment.
 

“Now we’re just looking at animals that have tumors and seeing if we can reduce their drug burden, increase their life span, and keep them healthier while they’re being treated,” Laywell said. “We’re not using this in humans, but ultimately, that’s the goal.”
 

Laywell and colleagues are also looking into whether frequency of tumor growth tests and subsequent dosing changes will interfere with that goal.
 

“If patients can go in once a month and get measured, that’s not so bad, but once a week intrudes into your routine, and it’s expensive,” he said. “The patient doesn’t want to always feel like a patient.”
 

Frequency is an important factor in the feasibility of management therapy for humans, but Laywell is optimistic that technological advances may help overcome that potential barrier.
 

Despite the current eradication mentality, he believes brain tumor management will be well received among clinicians and patients in the future.
 

“When I bring this idea up with people who actually treat cancer patients, they get it,” Laywell said. “If the patient can get past the idea that they have a tumor that’s never going away, but it is being managed, they’ll essentially be healthier, and probably happier, too.”
 

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CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

Aug. 13, 2013
 

FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE TO HOLD WHITE COAT CEREMONY
 

Members of the Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2017 will receive white coats in a traditional ceremony symbolizing the importance of compassionate care for patients and the scientific proficiency expected of physicians.

The 120-member class includes former FSU All-American football player and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle.
 

The featured speaker is Dr. Jimmy Moss, a 2010 graduate of the FSU College of Medicine who overcame great odds to become a physician. He spent part of his childhood in a homeless shelter, lived with more than two-dozen relatives at one point or another and went to work in a tire factory at age 13 to help his family. Moss currently is in residency at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education in Jacksonville, Fla.

The ceremony will be held:

FRIDAY, AUG. 16

6 P.M.

RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL

TALLAHASSEE, FLA.

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CONTACT: Julie Jordan, College of Medicine
(850) 645-9699; julie.jordan@med.fsu.edu

August 2013
 

RESEARCHER AWARDED $1.8 MILLION GRANT TO STUDY GENDER
DIFFERENCES IN ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS
 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In low doses, the general anesthetic drug ketamine works as an antidepressant, and for females the boost in mood is easier to achieve.

A Florida State University College of Medicine researcher is learning more about why this drug, used as an antidepressant for the last decade, requires a higher dosage to improve depression in males.

Mohamed Kabbaj, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Medicine, received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to support his research.

“The first purpose is to show the molecular mechanism behind the hormones estrogen and progesterone that are enhancing the effect of ketamine in females,” Kabbaj said. “The other purpose of the grant is to determine whether males will respond to estrogen and progesterone in addition to ketamine administered at a low dose.”

Researchers are interested in looking for ways around giving higher doses of ketamine to males because of the drug’s side effects.

“At medium and high doses, ketamine can create dissociation from one’s surroundings,” Kabbaj said. “It’s also an addictive drug, and you cannot give it chronically.”

Administering ketamine with a combination of estrogen and progesterone, which are more abundant in females, may diminish some of these side effects. Kabbaj and his team continue investigating ketamine despite its side effects because of its quick antidepressant response time.

“Ketamine is used as an antidepressant in clinics now because it takes effect acutely,” Kabbaj said. “Two hours after one low dose, patients feel better. The classic antidepressants take two to three weeks to work.”

This quick, low-dose effect can be a lifesaver for suicidal patients whose repeated thoughts of harming themselves make time a precious commodity. It is also used as an alternative to electroconvulsive shock therapy, which depressive patients sometimes refuse.

But Kabbaj’s research has shown that gender differences must be considered.

“Even with classic antidepressants there are studies showing that men and women respond differently to different classes of antidepressant drugs,” Kabbaj said. “Their brains are different, so we need to find out if there are treatments that work better in women and treatments that work better in men.”

Kabbaj wants to know whether striking the right balance between ketamine, progesterone and estrogen in both genders will allow for safer use of ketamine as an ongoing treatment for depression, so that it can treat those in need of immediate relief from depression without the secondary effects.
 

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CONTACT: Doug Carlson, College of Medicine
(850) 645-1255; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

Aug. 21, 2013

FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE PROFESSOR NAMED
TOP FLORIDA HEART RESEARCHER OF 2013
 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Heart Research Institute (FHRI) named a Florida State University College of Medicine professor its Stop Heart Disease Researcher of the Year.
 

Jose Pinto, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine, was honored at the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Orlando.
 

“Dr. Pinto is paving the way to novel approaches to our understanding and treatment of heart muscle dysfunction — a major component of congestive heart failure,” said Dr. Paul Kurlansky, director of research at the FHRI.
 

The award is given annually to the individual judged by the FHRI to be making the broadest impact on the advancement of knowledge in diagnosis and/or treatment of heart disease. The award includes a $25,000 grant to be applied to future cardiac research in Florida.
 

More than 50,000 people die from heart disease each year in Florida, and statewide hospitalization costs related to the disease add up to about $19 billion annually.
 

Pinto and his team at the College of Medicine attempt to understand how inherited mutations in the proteins responsible for regulating contraction of the heart lead to aberrant disease phenotypes.
 

“We are interested in understanding the consequences of certain cardiac ‘poison peptides’ on skeletal muscle physiology and function,” Pinto said. “Our ultimate goal is to develop a more effective, targeted therapeutic strategy which can be used to counter heart disease.”
 

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