Scientists at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) have discovered that a cancer drug – Bryostatin – enhances the formation of new connections in rat brains during memory storage.  This drug could potentially increase normal memory capacity in humans as well as repair and restore memory lost from Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and head trauma.

An article published in the December 4, 2007 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), describes how the cancer drug Bryostatin stimulates the production of connections between neurons in the same structural way that memory storage does naturally.  Bryostatin essentially rewires the brain.

• Dr. Daniel Alkon, M.D., scientific director of BRNI and coauthor of the study