Team Awarded $2.3 Million to Unlock Mysteries of Long-Term Memory

Grants to Scripps Florida Now Total More than $375 Million

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been awarded approximately $2.3 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the processes involved in long-term memory and how deficits in those processes contribute to brain diseases. 

Sathyanarayanan Puthanveettil, a TSRI assistant professor, will be principal investigator of the new five-year study (NIH grant number 1R01MH094607).

The study focuses on “axonal transport,” the cellular process whereby gene products move to and from a nerve cell body along its axon, the narrow, cable-like structure critical for signaling other nerve cells, muscles and glands.

“This new grant will help us better understand the role of axonal transport in long-term memory storage and identify signaling pathways that regulate it,” Puthanveettil said. “Once we identify the molecular regulators of axonal transport, we may be able to manipulate them to produce new and innovative approaches to the treatment of memory disorders.”

In earlier studies, Puthanveettil and his colleagues have shown that kinesin, a molecular motor protein, plays a key role in learning and memory.

In the 10 years since Scripps Florida’s founding in 2004, the campus has brought in more than $375 million in grants and support from the National Institutes of Health, foundations, individuals and sources outside of the State of Florida.

The campus has also produced:

• More than 900 publications in scientific journals
• More than 100 foreign and domestic patent applications
• 39 technology licenses
• 3 spin-off companies
• Collaborations with other local institutions, including Florida Atlantic University, Florida State University, Max Planck Florida and the University of Miami.

For more information, see www.scripps.edu/florida.

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