Memory depends on a precise balance of crucial molecules. Neuroscientist Sathya Puthanveettil, Ph.D., studies how this balance changes at brain connections during learning to create and keep memories. His findings could eventually lead to treatments to improve memory function.
Driving the News:
Neuroscientist Sathya Puthanveettil, Ph.D., unravels the mysteries of memory, one molecule at a time. Working in his Jupiter, Florida lab at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, he aims to develop revolutionary treatments for memory-related disorders including Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The goal is to help society meet the growing public health challenges of an aging population.
Why it Matters:
Global Alzheimer’s cases are expected to reach nearly 140 million by 2050, making Puthanveettil’s research vitally important. His lab has discovered several new molecular keys to memory formation and storage, a first step in developing potential treatment breakthroughs.
The Big Picture:
Memory is built on synapses, connections between neurons that grow stronger with experience and learning. To explore this process, Puthanveettil’s team studies sea slugs. Despite lacking a spine, these slugs create and store memories surprisingly like humans do. Studying them allows his team to zoom in more easily on memory’s molecular pathways.
Inside the Lab:
Puthanveettil’s lab uses many techniques to understand how specific genes “switch on” and change to create long-term memories, including genetic engineering, and advanced microscope techniques, to document changes. By mapping long-term memory pathways, his team hopes to lead a path toward treatments that could mimic or enhance memory.
Zooming In:
Recent discoveries from his lab emphasize the role of RNA, the cousin to DNA. RNA helps cells build proteins the brain needs to create and keep memories. Certain ones activate during memory formation to strengthen synapses. Better understanding of the role of RNA in memory could help scientists find new ways to protect or even regenerate these memory pathways in patients suffering from brain diseases, Puthanveettil says.
The Journey of Memory Molecules:
Puthanveettil’s team has discovered that tiny “motor” proteins in brain cells act like delivery trucks, driving essential materials to the right spots during learning.
Aging and Memory:
Memory abilities often decline with age. Puthanveettil’s lab is investigating these age-related changes at the level of single brain cells. In this way, they are learning why and how our brains handle memory differently as we grow older.
Searching for Memory Boosting Treatments:
Collaborating with other scientists, Dr. Puthanveettil’s lab is evaluating thousands of compounds to find those that could become medicines able to strengthen memory or slow memory loss.
Between the Lines:
What sets Puthanveettil’s work apart is his drive to translate his lab findings into real-world treatments. By collaborating with geneticists and data scientists, he’s finding many factors linked to brain cell death and memory loss.
What’s Next:
Puthanveettil’s team is moving from sea slug models to human cells, to validate their many discoveries. This could provide critical insights into how to prevent memory loss.
The Bottom Line:
Sathya Puthanveettil’s research is taking powerful steps toward addressing one of neuroscience’s most challenging puzzles. By decoding the molecular roots of memory, he offers hope for millions affected by memory disorders. His work exemplifies the innovative spirit at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute, pushing the boundaries of brain science in ways that could shape the future of medicine.
Content contributed by Patricia Izbicki, Ph.D.