Jim Lapple, The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute

Chief Financial Officer Jim Lapple at the Wertheim UF Scripps says their mission focuses largely on biomedical research, and they have a wonderful educational program, both focusing on PhDs as well as outreach programs, which work with local high schools and undergraduate institutions.

130 million Americans have chronic or incurable diseases.

The mission also focuses on areas such as glioblastoma or other cancers, autoimmune diseases, and memory diseases such as Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Read more about UF Innovate and Scad Media Show Us How Leaders at a UF Campus in South Florida Are Focusing on Biomedical Research.

Bennett received the R50 Research Specialist Award, designed to encourage stable research career opportunities for exceptional scientists pursuing research in the context of an existing NCI-funded cancer research program. The awards go to researchers who are vital to sustaining the biomedical research enterprise.

Since 2016, Bennett has supervised teams of researchers and performed key experiments for the NCI-funded research program of UF Health Cancer Center Director Jonathan Licht, M.D., studying how epigenetic mechanisms are disrupted in cancer. By identifying epigenetic dependencies and pathways involved in tumor progression and spread, research in the Licht lab aims to improve targeted therapies and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

The ASEMFL is an esteemed gathering of Florida’s preeminent scholars, encompassing individuals who both reside and work in the state. Situated at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, ASEMFL is a non-profit organization that unites top-tier scholars and researchers hailing from various universities, public agencies, and industries throughout Florida. Their collective mission is to delve into critical issues at the intersection of science, engineering, and medicine that have a direct impact on the people of Florida. Furthermore, they provide impartial and expert advice concerning these matters.

The finding could open the door to a new generation of pain medications designed to function differently, and lower the chance patients could grow dependent on opioids and other drugs like morphine and fentanyl.

People who suffer severe pain from stroke, trauma or cancer know that over time, the most effective prescription pain relievers lose power, said UF Scripps neuroscientist Kirill Martemyanov, Ph.D. To provide patients with the same pain-relieving effect, doctors often must prescribe higher and higher doses.

Dr. Christine Schmidt is the Chair of the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. She is known for her work in biomaterials science and cellular tissue engineering. In 2020, Dr. Schmidt was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.

The transaction between these two leading organizations — Scripps Florida with its stellar global reputation for biomedical research and UF Health, which has a wealth of clinical and biomedical research expertise ― results in a facility with the ability to translate biomedical discoveries into improved patient outcomes in Florida and around the world, leaders from both organizations said.