BBHIConnectionsBringing together outstanding research, clinical service, and education

to improve brain and behavioral health for all New MexicansFebruary 2014

Brain &BehavioralHealth Institute

Moving ForwardIn November 2013, the Brain and Behavioral Health Insti-tute hosted a forum to bring together patients and patient advocacy groups, researchers, and heath care practitioners. Representatives from 15 pa-tient advocacy groups in cities and towns all over New Mex-ico came on a snowy Saturday to the UNM Health Sciences Center campus in Albuquer-que. Participants, including researchers from 19 different departments and centers at UNM, shared expertise and experiences related to brain and behavioral health in New Mexico.

The event was a critical step toward achieving BBHI’s vision of becoming a compre-hensive resource in the state and region for providing the best in clinical care, research, and education in brain and behavioral health.

“Our focus has been on building relationships and learning about what’s going on in communities so we can play a role in bring-ing groups together to strengthen and coordi-nate efforts,” says BBHI Di-rector Bill Shuttleworth. “The dedication and passion, and enthusiasm for collaboration, is really inspiring.”

BBHI is also bringing to light the broad spectrum of research and clinical activity happening at UNM in the areas of brain and behavioral health. Community groups and UNM programs are now working together to expand awareness, improve services,

and build educational oppor-tunities. Shuttleworth notes as well that there is currently strong institutional support to develop BBHI as a major priority of the UNM Health Sciences Center.

To build upon the success of the of the forum in Novem-ber, BBHI is partnering with New Mexico Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience to jointly host Neurosciences Day on March 21st (see back page).

News in BriefDriven to Distraction In January, researchers and clin-cians at UNM participated in a think tank on distracted driving. Christopher Productions and nonprofit SafeTeen NM are creating a film to help youth and parents understand the risk of driving distractions. Every year, more than 3,800 drivers aged 15-20 are killed in car accidents. Visit www.ChristopherProduc-tions.org for more information.

2014 Southwest Conference on DisabilityBBHI is partnering with the UNM Center for Development and Disability and the New Mexico Brain Injury Resource Center to support the Annu-al Southwest Conference on Disability, to be held in October 2014. This annual conference brings together many different groups to share ideas on issues pertaining to disability advocacy, awareness, and education. Stay tuned for more information.

In this issue: Working Together to Fight Multiple Sclerosispage 2

Neurosciences Day 2014 Celebrating Brain Awareness Weekpage 4

Contact Us!page 4

https://brain.health.unm.edu

Neuroscience Day 2014: Celebrating Brain Awareness Week with Community and Research PartnersIn collaboration with the New Mexico Chapter of the Society for Neurosci-ence, the Brain and Behavioral Health Institute (BBHI) invites you to participate in Neuroscience Day at the UNM Health Sciences Center. This annual event has been expanded to provide more opportunities for interac-tion, including workshops, panel discus-sions and a research poster session, which will feature neuroscience, clinical research, and ongoing research studies in New Mexico communities. There will be a special award for the most “public friendly” research poster. The winner of the contest will receive a trip

to the Alan Alda Center for Communi-cating Science at Stony Brook University for their Summer Institute in June. The mission of this Center is to “help train the next generation of scientists and health professionals to communicate more effec-tively with the public.” There will be a Hospitality Room open throughout the day, generously sponsored by the Brain Injury Resource Center at the UNM Center for Development and Disability. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by March 7th, 2014, by going to https://www.survey-monkey.com/s/BBHINeuroscienceDay. For more information, please contact BBHI at BBHI@salud.unm.edu.

Contact UsThe Brain and Behavioral Health Institute is an initiative based at the UNM Health Sciences Center involving physicians, researchers, pa-tients and family, friends, and advocates working together to improve brain and behavioral health in New Mexico. Please please visit our

website https://brain.health.unm.edu/ or check out our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/BBHI.unm. You can also contact us at bbhi@salud.unm.edu, and join our email listserv. A special thank you to Christoph Knerr for design of the BBHI Tree.

Friday, March 21stAGENDA*

9- 11:30 am Research Poster Session9:30 - 10:30 am Telehealth 10112 -1 pm Keynote Lecture:

“The Brd2 histone decoder: GAB Aergic neurogenesis and seizures,” Dr. Luis Parada, Chair of Develop- mental Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

1- 2:00 pm Deli Style Lunch2- 2:45 pm Afternoon Program Welcome 2:45 - 4:45 pm Panel Discussions:   •  The promise and perils of stem cell       research in brain and behavioral health   •  Quality of life in brain and behavior-  al health conditions   •  How do we get from basic science   to treatment?5 - 6:30 pm Reception

Please RSVP by March 7th, 2014 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BBHINeuroscienceDay or by calling 272-0040.

* Schedule subject to change

Bill Shuttleworth, PhD BBHI Director

Caroline Bonham, MDBBHI Associate Director

Margaret Migliorati, MA, LPCCCommunity Liaison

Cassandra MisenarAdministrative Support

The Brain &Behavioral Health Institute

UNM Health Sciences CenterOffice of Research1 University of New MexicoMSC08-4560Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Editorial content and design by Kara McKinney

February 2014 BBHIConnections 4

walk tocreate a worldfree of MS

Left to right: Jenny Zheng, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Bizzozero Lab; Maggie Schold, Vicki Kowal, Oscar Bizzozero, Katie Bartram, and Jamie Hu, PhD, associate research scientist in the UNM Department of Cell Biology and Physiology

Left to right: Cerebellum of MS model with cells (orange) that contain oxidized proteins; Dr. Steve Jett in Electron Microscopy Facility, showing how specimens are prepared.

Working Together to Fight Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and progressive autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the rest of the body. Damage to neurons and brain tissue causes many unpre-dictable symptoms, ranging in severity from intermittent “attacks” of numbness, tin-gling and fatigue to perma-nent damage causing reduced mobility, blindness and pa-ralysis. In New Mexico, there are more than 2,400 people who have been diagnosed with this disease. Oscar Bizzozero, PhD, professor and chair of the De-partment of Cell Biology and Physiology, studies multiple

sclerosis and recently wel-comed representatives from the New Mexico office of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) to visit his lab and facilities at the UNM Health Sciences Center. The New Mexico office provides support services and educational programs for people with MS and their family and friends. Through a regional office system, the South Central Chapter, which the New Mexico office is a part of, works to improve access to resources and care in rural, underserved areas. The chapter also engages with pol-icy makers and helps to raise funds locally for transforma-tional research to improve treatments and find a cure. In 2013, the national society provided $48 million dol-lars to support 380 research projects.

“It is very rewarding for me as a basic scientist to inter-act with people who could benefit directly from the work we are doing,” says Bizzozero, who received an NMSS grant in 2013, noting as well that interaction is vital for learning more about diseases from the patient’s perspective. He also believes that biomedical scientists have “a responsibili-ty to show what we are doing and report on the progress we are making.”Treatment for managing MS has come a long way—prior to 1993, there were no MS drug therapies, and now there are 10 drugs approved specif-ically to treat symptoms and prevent MS attacks. However, for many people, the disease at some point stops responding to these medications and becomes progressively more debili-

tating. With funding from NMSS and the National In-stitutes of Health, Bizzozero and his team are trying to fig-ure out why this happens and what can done to intervene to stop disease progression. For Maggie Schold, who is the senior development manager for the New Mexico office, knowing more about current research and under-standing the research process provides hope and helps to demonstrate the impact of support for NMSS’s research mission. “Putting a face to the research and being able connect peo-ple to what’s happening in the research community is very exciting for us,” she says. Vicki Kowal, an NMSS pro-grams and services specialist, and Katie Bartram, a volun-teer in the Albuquerque office, were also part of the group.

Bartram talks candidly about being diagnosed with MS in 2006 after a se-ries of unsettling incidents involving numbness in her feet, hands and arms. The doctor told her, there’s no cure and it’s going to get worse. “It’s amazing how many things we take for grant-ed—at 27 years old, I had to reteach myself how to tie my own shoes,” Bartram says. “One thing that keeps me positive is my sense of humor.” She spoke as well about patients’ needs for infor-mation about treatment options and progress in research. “We desperately want to learn more from experts about what treat-ments are being devel-oped,” she says.While drawing diagrams

on a white board in his office, Bizzozero carefully explained to the group how the research team at UNM is investigating the toxic accumulation of oxidized (or “worn out”) proteins in brains of persons with MS. They have discovered that failure of an enzyme activator called PA28 may be responsible for the brain cells’ inability to get rid of these proteins. Bizzozero is also exploring multiple drugs, previously approved by the FDA to treat other diseases, which may also work to prevent toxic pro-tein aggregation and tissue damage. During the tour, the group visited the lab where cells are isolated from tissue

samples and had the opportunity to view cells under state-of-the-art con-focal and electron micro-scopes. At the end of the visit, conversation turned to opportunities for bi-di-rectional interaction to enhance research, clinical and educational activities at UNM and the critical work of NMSS. The group discussed potential collab-orations such as telehealth models, pipeline programs for students and awareness campaigns.

The New Mexico office of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society provides comprehensive support services and educational programs statewide, including: •  Direct financial assistance •  Health fairs and wellness  programs •  Information and referrals•  Case management •  Advocacy and awareness •  Self-Help groups

And much more. For information, please call (800) 344-4867, or email at nmx@nmss.org.

Upcoming EventsMS Walk Albuquerque, April 5 Las Cruces, April 12Roswell, April 26 Santa Fe, May 3 With routes from one-half to five miles, this fun, inclusive event accommodates most mobility issues. Bike MS: Pedal los Pueblos September 6 – 7 This unforgettable ride weaves through eight northern NM Pueblos and will raise an estimated $250,000 to support programs, services, and research.

2 BBHIConnections February 2014 February 2014 BBHIConnections 3

www.nationalmssociety.org MS Awareness Week, March 3–9

www.msconnection.org