Emelia Obey, Director of Development and Communications
At The Roskamp Institute, the pursuit of answers has never stopped.
For decades, scientists at the Institute have worked to understand the complex biological processes behind Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases of the mind, with one overarching goal: to turn scientific discovery into meaningful ways to prevent disease, improve treatment and ultimately change lives.
That pursuit began long before The Roskamp Institute opened its doors in Sarasota.
A Legacy of Discovery
In the early 1990s, The Roskamp Institute co-founders Dr. Michael Mullan and Dr. Fiona Crawford were members of a pioneering London-based research team that identified the first known genetic causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Their work helped establish the connection between mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene, the accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain and the development of familial Alzheimer’s disease.
Those discoveries contributed to a body of research that helped shape decades of Alzheimer’s science and ultimately helped pave the way for the development of amyloid-targeting treatments approved in recent years.
These treatments represent important progress, particularly when used in the earliest stages of disease, but there is still much more work to be done. Alzheimer’s disease is extraordinarily complex, and understanding amyloid represents only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Today, The Roskamp Institute continues to investigate that broader disease process while placing increasing emphasis on prevention and risk reduction.
Looking Beyond a Single Target
Research continues to demonstrate that Alzheimer’s disease involves a complex interplay of genetics, vascular health, inflammation, metabolism, environmental factors and lifestyle.
For scientists at the Institute, that means continuing to investigate what causes disease at the molecular level while also asking another critical question: What can we do before significant cognitive decline occurs?
Recent findings from the Alzheimer’s Association’s U.S. POINTER study provide encouraging evidence. The large, two-year clinical trial studied more than 2,100 older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline and found that multidomain lifestyle interventions targeting physical activity, nutrition, cognitive and social engagement, and health monitoring improved cognition.
The findings reinforce an increasingly important message in brain health research: lifestyle matters, perhaps more than many people realize.
Turning Knowledge Into Action
That concept is central to the development of The Roskamp Institute’s Brain Reserve Index (BRI).
The BRI is designed to help individuals better understand modifiable factors associated with cognitive health. It looks at areas including diet, physical activity, cognitive activity and medical risk factors such as diabetes and high cholesterol.
But understanding what contributes to brain health is only part of the challenge.
Knowing that exercise is important is different from building a sustainable exercise routine. Knowing that nutrition matters is different from changing the way you shop, cook and eat. And knowing that social and cognitive engagement support healthy aging does not necessarily make those opportunities easy to find.
The Institute’s next step is helping bridge that gap.
The Roskamp Center for Brain Health
In March 2027, The Roskamp Institute anticipates opening the Roskamp Center for Brain Health within the newly constructed Bishop Parker Clinic at The Roskamp Institute.
The Center represents a natural extension of the Institute’s scientific mission: taking what research is teaching us about brain health and bringing that knowledge directly into the community.
The concept is simple but powerful. The Center will create a community space where people can learn about lifestyle interventions that support healthy aging and brain health and, importantly, receive help putting those strategies into practice.
Programming will focus on key components of healthy aging, including physical activity, nutrition, cognitive engagement and social connection. The Institute will work alongside local organizations and experts with established programming and expertise in healthy aging, brain health, nutrition and related areas to bring education, resources and opportunities together in one community setting.
The Center will also recognize an equally important reality: many families are already living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Through community partnerships, families and caregivers will have opportunities to connect with supportive services, education and resources designed for those already affected by disease.
In this way, the Roskamp Center for Brain Health will help create a bridge between research, prevention and real life.
Investing in the Next Generation of Discovery
The Institute’s pursuit of answers also depends on developing the scientists who will carry this work forward.
That mission recently reached an exciting milestone with Dr. Maxwell Eisenbaum, a scientist at The Roskamp Institute and graduate of the Institute’s Neuroscience Ph.D. program.
Dr. Eisenbaum was recently awarded a research grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for his project, “Effect of apoE genotype on eNOS regulation and the development of VCID.”
His research will investigate biological mechanisms involved in vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia, examining the relationship between APOE genotype, blood vessel function and cognitive decline. The award represents an important milestone for Dr. Eisenbaum and demonstrates the continued growth of scientists trained through the Institute’s Ph.D. program.
Read more about Dr. Eisenbaum’s NIH-funded research.
His work is another reminder of just how interconnected the search for answers has become. Each discovery adds another piece to a much larger puzzle and creates new questions for scientists to pursue.
The Pursuit Continues
There will likely never be one laboratory, one scientist, one treatment or one lifestyle change that provides every answer to Alzheimer’s disease.
Progress requires collaboration.
It requires scientists willing to pursue difficult questions, research participants who volunteer their time, students who become the next generation of investigators, community organizations willing to share their expertise, and donors and funding agencies willing to invest in discovery.
It also requires translating what we learn into meaningful action.
From helping identify the first genetic causes of Alzheimer’s disease more than three decades ago, to investigating the complex mechanisms driving neurological disease today, to preparing to open a community center focused on helping people put brain-health research into practice, The Roskamp Institute remains committed to finding answers and translating those answers into better ways to protect brain health and improve lives.
Science will continue to evolve. New questions will emerge. New treatments will be developed. And our understanding of how lifestyle can influence brain health will continue to grow.
The challenge of Alzheimer’s disease requires all of these efforts working together: discovery, treatment, education and community.
There is much more to learn, and the pursuit continues.
