The Johnnie B. Byrd Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute’s Board of Directors appointed Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the University of South Florida College of Medicine and senior vice president for USF Health as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Institute.

“Collaboration has been the key for the Byrd Institute and we will continue to move forward under that model. Synergy is a remarkable force, and I am eager for us to accelerate that process,” Dr. Klasko said.

Huntington Potter, PhD, the center’s first CEO, has signed an offer from USF to remain as a senior scientist at the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and tenured professor in the USF Department of Molecular Medicine. Dr. Potter is also the Pfeiffer Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research at USF and principal investigator for the prestigious Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) grant obtained from the National Institute on Aging. “Dr. Potter is definitely very important to continuing the great work begun by the Byrd Institute,” Dr. Klasko said.

Research Update

Scientists Link Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's
~ Byrd Alzheimer's Institute researchers study abnormal cells found in both conditions ~

Research by scientists at the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr., Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute and the University of South Florida Suncoast Alzheimer's and Gerontology Center suggests Alzheimer's disease may be a form of Down Syndrome.

The new study shows that the mutant genes that cause Alzheimer's also lead to the creation of Down Syndrome cells during the normal process of cell division. In healthy cell division, cells receive a pair of each chromosome. In the mutant process, normal cells become Down Syndrome cells with the addition of a third copy of chromosome 21. All Down Syndrome individuals develop the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease by age 30-40 (many but not all also develop memory problems with advanced age).

Understanding the link between Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's disease – that they are partly the same disease – has potentially important implications for both diagnosis and therapy, said Dr. Huntington Potter, CEO and Scientific Director of the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute and Eric Pfeiffer Chair for Research on Alzheimer's Disease.

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