How a UM lab is unlocking the secrets of the brain. It starts with a personal message
Irma Mendoza settles in to begin an Alzheimer’s test. But first comes a cafecito.
University of Miami researchers are leading the study to better understand the disease’s prevalence in Hispanics.
But the 72-year-old Mendoza, who has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, isn’t getting the exam at a doctor’s office or a clinical lab. She’s in a comfortable and familiar place, sipping Cuban coffee at her Hialeah adult day care center.
UM researchers, part of a new genetics lab that opened Friday, Jan. 24., have gone on tour. On this recent day, they were visiting Mendoza and other volunteers at Hora Feliz Adult Day Care, 44 E. Fifth St.
On their tour, they also bring information and some fun, hosting talks, presentations and even bingo games at senior centers, churches and other community hubs. They discuss the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in Hispanics and Blacks who are at higher risk of developing the memory-robbing disease.
Miami-Dade County leads the nation in the percentage of people 65 and older who have Alzheimer’s. Clinical coordinator Vanessa Rodriguez says that’s why people should consider joining one of UM’s studies to help researchers better understand the disease that could lead to better treatment and a cure.
Unlike other studies, seniors who participate don’t have to go anywhere. Researchers take the test to them.
During a recent visit to the Hialeah center, researchers fanned out, setting up exam tables to enroll volunteers and take assessments. The testing, which varies in length depending on the study, was held at the center so seniors don’t miss out on playing dominoes, exercising and having lunch with their friends. Researchers can even schedule a home visit.
“Inclusion is the solution,” said Dr. Katrina Celis, research assistant professor at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Going into the community to recruit and conduct tests has helped increase the number of Hispanic participants, including those who don’t consider themselves to have memory problems, she said.
“They feel like you are adapting to them instead of them adapting to you,” and feel more relaxed interacting with researchers in a place they frequent, Celis said.
Not having to worry about Miami’s gridlock traffic is one of the reasons why Mendoza, who doesn’t drive anymore, said she enrolled in the DAWN Alzheimer’s research study, an ongoing international study that seeks to expand the disease’s genetic studies in Hispanics, Blacks and those with African ancestry. People who participate in the study won’t be told how healthy their brain is or what risk they have of developing Alzheimer’s or other dementia, although they will receive periodic updates on the overall findings of the ongoing study.
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“It’s good to understand one’s mind because at the end we don’t know if we will have or not have” Alzheimer’s, Mendoza told the Miami Herald in Spanish.
During the exam, researchers asked Mendoza about her life, including her family’s medical history. She was given tests that used a mixture of letters, numbers, animals, words and stories to assess her cognitive and memory functions. Some of the tests made her feel like she was back in school. Other parts of the exam that tested Mendoza’s recall felt more like games, requiring her to knock on the table when she heard a certain word or letter, or requiring her to repeat a string of words.
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A sample of her blood was then taken to the new biorepository center, which formally opened Friday on the shared campus of Jackson Health System and the University of Miami Health System. The facility is a global genetic library of blood, tissue and saliva, supporting studies of genomics, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, autism, and other conditions.
“A lot of the work that we’re doing in underrepresented populations — we’re discovering new things in terms of the genetics that will help solve the diseases for everyone and have improved therapies for all patients,” said Jacob McCauley, director of the Center for Genome Technology and the biorepository facility within the Hussman Institute.
‘The future of modern medicine’
The new biorepository, made possible by a $7.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, doubles the size of the Hussman Institute’s former facility, which opened in 2007, and will increase its research capabilities. The new lab space comes just in time for UM, which has committed to invest more than $30 million to fund neuroscience and aging research and also received a $28.6 million grant last year from the National Institute on Aging to launch a five-year study into the genetics behind Alzheimer’s disease in people of African descent.
Inside the new lab, automated coolers house more than a million bar-coded samples in freezing temperatures as low as -112°F, with room to hold millions more. In the lab, researchers can extract, splice and analyze genomic sequences from blood, saliva, tissues, DNA and other biospecimens that are collected from South Florida, Africa, South America, Asia and other parts of the world.
Robotic systems, for example, help scientists quickly analyze blood, separating plasma, blood cells and other components. Other tech helps scientists extract and analyze DNA and RNA.
On any given day, the lab’s team could be assisting 215 studies while also processing samples from 10 or 15 of those studies, according to McCauley, who is also a professor of human genetics and pathology at UM’s medical school.
UM’s efforts to recruit Hispanic and Black volunteers across South Florida is key to helping diversify research studies, which have historically lacked representation, according to McCauley and Margaret Pericak-Vance, director of the Hussman Institute and executive vice chair of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics at UM’s medical school.
One of their goals is to continue expanding research into precision medicine, an initiative that UM’s medical school has set aside funds for and is “the future of modern medicine,” said Pericak-Vance, who is the No. 1 National Institutes of Health-funded principal investigator in genetics nationwide.
Think of precision medicine like a personalized treatment plan based on a person’s genetic makeup. Using samples of an individual’s genetics, researchers can test and analyze drugs and therapies to see which one would be most effective to treating a disease.
“The goal is to move medicine from reactive to proactive,” Pericak-Vance said. “Part of the beauty of having this facility is we’re able to study people who are at higher risk before they get the disease and see what preventions — whether it be therapeutic, whether it be lifestyle changes —” can be used to reduce their risk.
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How to enroll
Those interested in enrolling or learning more about UM’s DAWN study can visit https://thedawnstudy.com/
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM.
