Like anything else in life, the game of football has changed a lot over the years. If you compare the college football of Rockne, to the college football of Parseghian, to the college football of Holtz, to the college football of Kelly; you are going to see many changes and advances within the sport. In my eyes, the biggest hot button topic that is changing the current game of football is the concussion crisis, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
As not only the players, but all of us have become more aware and more educated of the risks associated with playing football, coaches and Universities have had to step up and create changes in order to make the game we love safer for those who play it. While doing some research the other day, I happened to come across a company (Mercaptor Discoveries) that is making ground breaking research in the treatment and prevention of CTE. I had the opportunity to sit down with CEO Sara Isbell to learn a little more about what they are developing. Here’s my interview with Sara.
Q: What is your academic/career background before joining Mercaptor Discoveries?
A: I have a B.S. in Neurochemistry, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology from University of Irvine, Calif. I worked at Genentech early in my career and was a Senior Researcher at Raptor Pharmaceuticals for 12 years. In 2017, I co-founded Mercaptor Discoveries.
Q: Do you have any previous association with the game of football?
A: I do not have much previous association with football, aside from watching games with my dad when I was growing up. But I am so happy that the drug I am developing could potentially impact the lives of so many athletes, from kids to pro NFL players. The concussion crisis is finally being acknowledged, so I am happy that we may be able to help people avoid serious lifelong complications from doing something they love – like playing football.
Q: How did you become interested researching CTE and football related brain injuries?
A: I am a neuroscientist but I was in the process of researching something else when my team and I stumbled upon this discovery. Then we realized the implications this breakthrough molecule could have for so many neurodegenerative conditions.
Q: Can you explain the current concussion medication that your company is working on?
A: Our molecules, called captons, prevent trauma from spreading throughout the brain. By halting the progression of the initial damage caused by concussions, the medication would prevent long-term repercussions like ALS and other progressively degenerative diseases from developing. Captons could prevent or treat chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), alcohol withdrawal, chemobrain, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy.
Q: How did former NFL player Jim Kovach become a part of Mercaptor Discoveries and what is his involvement?
A: Jim joined our Board of Directors after looking at our science. As a medical doctor and former football player, he is in a unique position to work toward finding solutions to the concussion crisis that is plaguing the NFL.
In a quote from Jim Kovach, Jim explains the grave reality that it is practically impossible to make the game of football truly “safe” for its players. This is why the research being done by Mercaptor is so important in saving the game of football. “With just the amount of physics that I learned to get into medical school and the knowledge of the forces within the brain,” says Jim Kovach, a medical doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, and former player, “my personal opinion is that it would be impossible to truly mitigate the coup-contrecoup—the shaking of the brain, the physical contusion of the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid that is caused by head impacts.”
Q: Where do you hope this research/medication will be in 10 years? 20 years? And could this save the game of football?
A: We believe this medication will be used widely to prevent brain injury in contact sports. Yes, captons could save the game of football! Athletes could play football without the fear of long-term repercussions – this would literally be a game-changer for football and so many other sports.
This discovery is not far from being in humans. If we can get the funding, we can be in the clinic in three years and to the market in an additional three years. Our approach works on the biochemical level, which is translatable between animals and humans. Unlike other drugs that have been developed and have fallen short after animal studies, our medication being in pre-clinical phase for the next three years will guarantee success in humans.
Since this is an entirely new approach to fighting brain injury and disease, attracting funding is a challenge. It takes a special kind of investor who is willing to take a big leap. We are hoping that our work will attract funding from people who are passionate about changing the world for the better, whether they want to contribute five dollars or five million. People can pitch in to help beat brain injury at www.mercaptor.com. And to learn all about Mercaptor’s vision, visit www.mercaptordiscoveries.com
Her Loyal ... Daughter
Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.
Read all posts by Lisa
- Breaking Discoveries in CTE Research? - March 12, 2018
- A Football Player’s Lucky Charm? - February 22, 2018
- Part II: From Football to Coffee Beans? - January 31, 2018
