Brain Chemistry Labs is a nonprofit research institute focused on serious brain illnesses. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes for people with serious brain diseases including ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease as well as glioblastoma.

These are considered by physicians and scientists to be among the most difficult diseases to understand and to solve.

We conduct state-of-the-art discovery research based on our small but highly qualified scientific staff in Wyoming and a broader 50 scientist consortium based at institutions throughout the world. In our scientific approach to these serious brain diseases, we focus on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

These connected pieces form a bridge from scientific research to better patient outcomes.

Treatments for serious illnesses.

We discovered that the naturally occurring amino acid L-serine slows protein misfolding in cell culture as well as in animal models.

We have proven in an FDA-approved Phase I clinical trial that L-serine is safe and indications that it slows the decline of ALS patients. It appears that our ongoing Phase II clinical trial of L-serine for ALS will confirm these findings.

We discovered that L-serine slows the formation of Alzheimer’s-type neuropathology in vivo.

We now seek to determine if it slows progression in Mild Cognitive Impairment—a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease—in an FDA-approved Phase II clinical trial at Houston Methodist Research Institute.

We have developed a model of Parkinson’s disease in marmosets, and are using this model to discover a new drug for Parkinson’s. Although levodopa helps Parkinson’s patients control some of their symptoms, it does not slow disease progression.

Rapid Diagnosis of ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease.

ALS patients often have to wait a year or more for an accurate diagnosis.

By analyzing blood samples from 170 ALS patients and 170 healthy individuals, we have discovered that sequences of a naturally-occurring molecule, miRNA, can assist neurologists in making a more rapid diagnosis of ALS.

Several months ago, we published our discovery of a molecule in blood samples from patients with early Alzheimer’s disease that can distinguish patients from healthy individuals at a very early stage.

Both of these discoveries will help patients and their families by allowing treatment to begin far more rapidly than ever before.

Dr. Sandra Banack analyzing blood samples in our Jackson Hole lab.

You Can Have an Impact by Making a Gift to Fight Disease.

Ralph & Sue Severson of Orinda, California, sought to use part of the proceeds from the sale of a small company they founded to improve outcomes for patients suffering from serious brain diseases. The Orbital Trap Mass Spectrometer they donated is now playing a crucial role in our analysis of new anti-glioblastoma peptides from violets.