When San Diego’s Scripps Research Institute and Germany’s Max Planck Society came to Palm Beach County nearly 20 years ago, officials dreamed of building a biotech engine to rival the nation’s great research centers in Boston, San Diego, North Carolina and San Francisco.
The grand ambition has not been realized, even as the august institutions were joined over the years by a robust presence from Florida Atlantic University, all on the same campus in Jupiter’s Abacoa neighborhood.
To move into the next phase of recruiting scientists and building the region’s reputation, the three institutions have come together with key financial partners to proclaim a shared interest in the human brain.
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They plan to unveil the Brain Coast of South Florida, a name to conjure the focus, enthusiasm and success of Florida’s Space Coast, on Oct. 24.
“You have to have a goal, you have to have a challenge, you have to have a mission. And with those things, good things happen,” said Randy Blakely, executive director of the
Blakely and President and CEO Patrick McNamara have brought together their own institutions with the Herbert Wertheim for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, the of Neuroscience, the and the , known as SEFBHN.
Palm Health, born from the ; Stiles-Nicholson, a private foundation; and SEFBHN, which distributes state Department of Children and Families money in a five-county region, all are in the business of grant-making.
Dispelling myth, emphasizing brain health
They aim to build on three pillars:
- Deepening .
- Expanding community engagement on brain health.
- Spurring innovation to improve brain health, mental health and personal and community resilience.
They want to dispel myths, share scientific findings and instill the importance of mental well-being and resilience by fostering a culture that prioritizes brain health.
McNamara, who has headed Palm Health for seven years, said the Brain Coast concept came to him a few years ago at a Johns Hopkins symposium at The Breakers.
“They were interviewing a guy who had early onset Alzheimer’s, who was going to Johns Hopkins for the care,” McNamara said in an interview he and Blakely gave to Stet News. “And they asked him ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Because, really, they have a nexus of deep brain science, and they’re very engaged with the community, and they’re innovative with their care.’
“And so, I was like, ‘That’s what we need to try to foster here.’”
The institutions already work together, with scientists taking advantage of state-of-the-art equipment. They’re building toward going beyond animal studies to humans, although there’s still no teaching hospital in north county, long considered a key to growth.
“Go and look in terms of the neuroscience being done on the Jupiter campus,” Blakely said. “With almost no exception, it’s all in molecules and animals. It’s not in human research. … It’s a clear absence.”
All about the brain
The institutions will continue engagement efforts and look for ways to collaborate. Some of the ongoing efforts:
- Max Planck’s lecture series.
- ’s&Բ;, and program for high-schoolers.
- Cox Science Center’s , now dismantled as part of expansion of the West Palm Beach museum.
- Palm Health Foundation-supported wellness initiative and .
- UF Scripps’ on “Healing the Brain” and “Outsmarting Brain Cancer.”
Blakely suggested the effort is still in its infancy, where the nation’s top biotech centers were 15 years ago.
“I think we turn around in a few years, and you’re going to see this area be thought of, when you say, ‘oh, OK, well, there’s Southern California and then there’s Boston’ and there’s no reason in the world why it can’t be South Florida,” he said.
In the next 10 years, McNamara said, he hopes the Brain Coast is known not just nationally but worldwide.
“We’re going to be doing everything in our power to really continue to put South Florida on the map in all things brain-related,” he said.
What’s next: The launch is scheduled for 4 pm Oct. 24 at the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, 5353 Parkside Drive, Jupiter. Reservations to attend can be made .
This story was originally published by , a WLRN News partner.
