We are excited to announce the awarding of a $1.5 million Research Grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Krishna Bhat, MD, PhD, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Byrd Institute Investigator. This NIH R01 grant will allow him to conduct research over the next five years on genes and proteins that regulate the division of neuronal stem cells. “The idea is, how is a large complex brain formed from rudimentary cells?” explained Bhat. “We want to understand how a cell can accomplish these divisions to generate a large number of different types of brain cells from a few stem cells.” Professor Bhat’s research has broad implications for the healthcare field. His findings could reveal how the brain is formed during development as well as provide key insights to new therapies that induce the generation of new neurons in the adult brain. The latter strategy could help treat many degenerative conditions of the brain, including Alzheimer’s disease.

In a recent news interview, Dr. Amanda Smith, Director of Clinical Research at the Byrd Institute, discussed some of the difficulties researchers face when trying to enroll subjects into clinical studies. Issues such as exclusionary medical problems, transportation concerns, and fear of the unknown sometimes keep people away. These obstacles are highly problematic because the need for clinical trial participants has never been greater. See our article on TampaBay.com to learn more about the importance of our efforts at the Byrd and how you can help.