The Roskamp Institute, was co-founded by Robert and Diane Roskamp, and Fiona Crawford and Michael Mullan in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

in 2003. It is a nonprofit

biomedical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

facility specializing neurological research including

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity ranging from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) to severe traumati ...

, Gulf War syndrome, and

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

. It also operates an onsite neurology clinic. The institute is focused on finding the causes and treatments for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. The institute's lead researchers, Michael Mullan and Fiona Crawford, were members of a team of scientists who discovered the first genetic errors causing Alzheimer's disease in 1991 in the APP gene in early onset familial cases. Mullan and Crawford also discovered the Swedish mutation which has been incorporated into transgenic mice which are widely used to understand the disease and test new treatments. The institute is particularly focused on translational research that can lead to novel drug or other therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative disorders. In this regard, Institute scientists discovered that certain members of a class of drugs called dihydropyridines HPscan lower the levels of

amyloid beta Amyloid beta (Aβ, Abeta or beta-amyloid) denotes peptides of 36–43 amino acids that are the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The peptides derive from the amyloid-beta precursor prot ...

in the brains of transgenic models of the disease and decided to take one of them, nilvadipine, forward into clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease. This work was conducted by Archer Pharmaceuticals, a for-profit spin off of the institute, headed by Mullan. In partnership with colleagues at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

led by Brian Lawlor, Archer and Institute scientists conducted an open label phase I/II trial of nilvadipine in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease subjects. More recently, in collaboration with multiple partners at academic institutes in Europe, and again led by Lawlor, Archer and Roskamp Institute scientists partnered to conduct a phase III clinical trial of nilvadipine in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The institute is currently housed in a scientific research facility in Sarasota, Florida. The institute facility contains

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical mic ...

, certified GMO testing, and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

labs. The organization employs more than 50 scientists, technicians, clinicians, and other research staff. The neurology clinic, headed by neurologist Andy Keegan, offers free memory screening as well as conducts various clinical trials simultaneously for neurological disorders.

References

External links

RoskampInstitute.org
{{authority control Biomedical research foundations Medical and health foundations based in the United States