FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACT: Rachelle Kuramoto
rkuramoto@dragonarmy.com; 404-452-0912

Oct. 12, 2020

The Gift Supports Funding for Future-Focused Neuroscience and Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Tallahassee, Fla. - Florida State College of Medicine today announced that it has received a $30,000.00 grant from The Karen Toffler Charitable Trust (KTCT). KTCT provided the funding through its Toffler Scholar Program, which partners with universities and research organizations working to advance high-impact, early-stage medical research.

The Toffler Scholar Program exists to help young researchers at a pivotal point in their careers by creating a financial and network support bridge to a phase where large research grants are more available. The funding will help support FSU College of Medicine researchers working in the areas of neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative diseases, or autoimmune disorders.

Together, researchers at Florida State College of Medicine and KTCT are doing their part to help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems. The human toll of neurological conditions is tremendous. With dementia alone, these medical breakthroughs could reduce the 10 million new global cases annually, slowing the cost to society that is rapidly growing into the trillions. It is part of the commitment by the charitable organization to carry on the powerful legacy of our founders, Alvin and Heidi Toffler by seeing and investing in the work that has the potential for profound impact on the future of humanity.

“I am very pleased and delighted that the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust has provided a generous gift to establish the Toffler Scholar Program at the FSU College of Medicine,” said Dr. John P. Fogarty, Dean of Florida State University College of Medicine. “This gift, matched by our college, will provide critical funding for new and emerging investigators in neuroscience and neurodegenerative disease to support their programs and their research. We appreciate the support and confidence in our university and research programs.”

“It’s our responsibility and our privilege to welcome these visionary partners into the enduring commitment set by the Tofflers,” said Rebecca Bartoli, executive director of the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust. “Without these brilliant scientists, we couldn’t move the Toffler’s vision forward, and without us, these researchers might not advance as quickly. It’s a true partnership creating a better future through science.”

About The Karen Toffler Charitable Trust

THE KAREN TOFFLER CHARITABLE TRUST (TOFFLERTRUST.ORG) IS A NONPROFIT FOUNDATION FOCUSED ON EARLY-STAGE RESEARCH THAT ADVANCES THE MEDICAL FIELD IN PROFOUND, HIGH-IMPACT WAYS. TAPPING INTO THE LEGACY OF FOUNDERS AND BEST-SELLING AUTHORS ALVIN AND HEIDI TOFFLER, WE EXIST TO BE A CATALYST FOR FUTURE-FOCUSED BREAKTHROUGHS. OUR TOFFLER SCHOLAR PROGRAM HELPS UNIVERSITY MEDICAL RESEARCHERS GAIN ACCESS TO SUPPORT AND A NETWORK FOR OFTEN UNDERFUNDED INNOVATIONS. WE ARE A NEW KIND OF FOUNDATION THAT IS FOSTERING NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO HUMANITY’S MOST DIFFICULT PROBLEMS.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACT: Doug Carlson, FSU College of Medicine
(850) 694-3735; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

Oct. 21, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State University College of Medicine has received the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

The award recognizes U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, veterinary, allied health and other health schools and centers demonstrating an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. The College of Medicine, one of 46 health-professions programs honored, is receiving the award for a fourth consecutive time.

“This medical school was created with a goal of helping to meet health-care needs in communities that have traditionally struggled to provide adequate access to care.” College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty said.

“As we are celebrating our 20^th anniversary, this award affirms that we are true to our mission and we are succeeding in producing the physicians Florida – as well as the rest of the U.S. – needs most. That includes our record of producing numerous alumni who now practice in rural parts of the state, especially in Northwest Florida.”

The College of Medicine has developed several pipeline programs successful at bringing more students into medical school from communities underrepresented in the physician workforce. Two of those programs, in particular, have helped to produce physicians now caring for patients in communities that traditionally struggled to recruit new doctors.

SSTRIDE (Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence) identifies students as early as the eighth grade who have an aptitude for science and math and the potential to be developed into a successful medical school applicant. The Bridge Program gives applicants from underserved backgrounds, both inner-city and rural, the opportunity to prepare for medical school through a one-year master’s program.

 “Our pipeline programs enhance the applicant pool with qualified candidates who have a significant interest in serving patients where health-care needs are the greatest,” said Thesla Berne-Anderson, director of college and pre-college outreach at the College of Medicine..

“The outreach programs play an important role in how the College of Medicine meets its mission.”

HEED Award institutions were selected based on “recruitment and retention of students and employees – and best practices for both; continued leadership support for diversity; and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion.”

The College of Medicine is one of only three medical schools (along with UCLA and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) ranked among the top programs nationally for enrollment of both black and Hispanic students. Nearly 100 alumni physicians are practicing in the Florida Panhandle, from Perry to Pensacola, caring for a significant number of patients from rural areas.

The FSU College of Medicine and other HEED recipients will be featured in the December issue of Insight Into Diversity.

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MEDIA ADVISORY

CONTACT: Melissa Powell, FSU College of Medicine
(850) 325-0423; melissa.powell@med.fsu.edu

 October 2020

Members of the Florida State University College of Medicine Physician Class of 2024 will be honored Friday in a virtual White Coat Ceremony. The white coat symbolizes the importance of compassionate care for patients and the scientific proficiency expected of physicians.

Students were previously filmed receiving their white coats individually in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines.

Friday’s virtual ceremony, which is planned to include interactive participation through social media, will recognize the students’ commitment to patient care, compassion and professionalism. It is meant to remind students of the dedication necessary to complete a medical education and underscore the responsibilities inherent in the practice of medicine.

The featured speaker is Dr. Jonathan Salud, a 2015 graduate of the FSU College of Medicine. He is now a clinical instructor at the University of Washington and practices internal medicine.

The event also will honor 15 members of the Physician Class of 2021 and two faculty members who have been inducted into the FSU Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). For more information on GHHS and to view the list of inductees, visit the College of Medicine website.

The ceremony will take place:

FRIDAY, OCT. 16

6 P.M.

Links to watch will be available at med.fsu.edu/FSUWC2024.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACT: Melissa Powell, FSU College of Medicine
(850) 325-0423; melissa.powell@med.fsu.edu
 
October 2020
 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A team of researchers from the Florida State University College of Medicine has found that an amino acid produced by the brain could play a crucial role in preventing a type of epileptic seizure.
 
Temporal lobe epileptic seizures are debilitating and can cause lasting damage in patients, including neuronal death and loss of neuron function.
 
Sanjay Kumar, an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, and his team are paving the way toward finding effective therapies for this disease.
 
The research team found a mechanism in the brain responsible for triggering epileptic seizures. Their research indicates that an amino acid known as D-serine could work with the mechanism to help prevent epileptic seizures, thereby also preventing the death of neural cells that accompanies them.
 
The team’s findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
 
The temporal lobe processes sensory information and creates memories, comprehends language and controls emotions. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of epilepsy in adults and is not improved with current anti-epileptic medications.
 
“A hallmark of TLE is the loss of a vulnerable population of neurons in a particular brain region called the entorhinal area,” Kumar said. “We’re trying to understand why neurons die in this brain region in the first place. From there, is there anything that we can do to stop these neurons from dying? It’s a very fundamental question.”
 
To help further understand TLE pathophysiology, the Kumar lab studies underlying receptors in the brain. Receptors are proteins located in the gaps, or junctions, between two or more communicating neurons. They convert signals between the neurons, aiding in their communication.
 
Kumar and his team discovered a new type of receptor that they informally named the “FSU receptor” in the entorhinal cortex of the brain. The FSU receptor is a potential target for TLE therapy.
 
“What's striking about this receptor is that it is highly calcium-permeable, which is what we believe underlies the hyperexcitability and the damage to neurons in this region,” Kumar said.
 
When FSU receptors allow too much calcium to enter neurons, TLE patients experience epileptic seizures as neurons become overstimulated from the influx. The overstimulation, or hyperexcitability, is what causes neurons to die, a process known as excitotoxicity.
 
The research team also found that the amino acid D-serine blocks these receptors to prevent excess levels of calcium from reaching neurons, thereby preventing seizure activity and neuronal death.
 
“What’s unique about D-serine, unlike any other drugs that are out there, is that D-serine is made in the brain itself, so it’s well-tolerated by the brain,” Kumar said. “Many medications that deal with treating TLE are not well-tolerated, but given that this is made in the brain, it works very well.”
 
With assistance from Michael Roper’s lab in the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the research team found that D-serine levels were depleted in epileptic animals, indicating that TLE patients may not produce D-serine like they should.
 
“The loss of D-serine essentially removes the brakes on these neurons, making them hyperexcitable,” Kumar said. “Then, the calcium comes in and causes excitotoxicity, which is the reason why neurons die. So, if we provide the brakes — if we provide D-serine — then you don’t get that loss of neurons.”
 
Kumar’s research points to neuroinflammation as the cause for diminished D-serine levels in the entorhinal cortex of the brain. D-serine is typically produced by glial cells, but neuroinflammation experienced as part of TLE causes cellular and molecular changes in the brain that can prevent it from being produced.
 
The next step in exploring D-serine as a viable therapy is investigating potential administration techniques.
 
“We have to find creative ways to administer D-serine to that particular region of the human brain,” Kumar said. “Getting it to that right place is the challenge. We have to look at what effect it has when administered locally to that region of the brain compared to systemically through an IV, for example.”
 
TLE often results from an injury such as a concussion or other traumatic brain injury. When administered to the appropriate region, D-serine has been shown to work in preventing the secondary effects of such an injury.
 
“A pie-in-the-sky type idea is a hypothetical scenario where you were to have a nebulizer, or have people inhale D-serine, go play football, and if they experience a concussion, no neurons would be lost because the D-serine would provide a sort of cushion just in case there is a traumatic brain injury that can lead to loss of neurons in the temporal lobe,” Kumar said.
 
“There are some very interesting questions to ask and solve,” he added. “The important thing is that we’ve outlined the basic bread-and-butter mechanisms of why D-serine works. What we’ve established is the discovery of the receptors, discovery of the antagonist for these receptors (D-serine), how it works and how to prevent the emergence of TLE. The mechanisms and pathophysiology are as relevant to the animal model as they are to human beings, and that’s where the excitement lies.”
 
The research was funded in part by grants from the Council on Research and Creativity and College of Medicine at Florida State University, the Epilepsy Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
 
FSU Department of Biomedical Sciences research faculty member Stephen Beesley, graduate student Thomas Sullenberger and undergraduate research assistants Kathryn Crotty, Roshan Ailani and Cameron D’Orio contributed to this study, as well as Kimberly Evans, Emmanuel Ogunkunle and Michael Roper in the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.