AAN: Investigators gifted $260,000 for neurotoxin research

Two researchers received awards of $130,000 each for their work in developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and the movement disorder dystonia based on their research into neurotoxins, according to an announcement from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) during the organization’s 66th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

The two researchers were Valerie Rundle-Gonzalez, MD, an adjunct clinical post doctorate associate fellow at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who works with the botulinum toxin as a treatment for cervical dystonia, and Srikant Rangaraju, MD, a vascular neurology fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who studies inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease caused by microglia immune cells.

“Microglia are immune cells that play a pivotal role in inflammation within the central nervous system (neuroinflammation),” Rangaruju said in the press release. “The importance of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease is being increasingly recognized and excessive microglial activation may result in harmful neurotoxic effects. Potassium channels, such as Kv1.3, are present on the surface of immune cells such as microglia.. If we find that blockade of Kv1.3 channels reduces neuroinflammation and protects neurons without major side effects, our research will pave the way for future efforts to translate these findings to humans, to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease as well as other neurodegenerative disorders.”

The monies are coming out of the Clinician Research Training Fellowship in the Neurologic Application of Neurotoxins, which is funded by Allergan Foundation and the American Brain Foundation.