PharmatrophiX (PTX) was founded by Professor Frank Longo, Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, through the ADDF Biotechnology Founders Program in December of 2005. Previously support to PTX focused on the NGF mimetic program. This year, PTX was chosen for the "Fund-a-Biotech" program for the ADDF connoisseur's dinner to garner support for a different earlier-stage program at PTX, the BDNF mimetic program. This new and exciting program seeks to develop drug candidates that mimic brain-derived neurotrophic factor (or "BDNF"), a protein that protects brain cells and is deficient in normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease patients. PTX's "BDNF mimetics" have shown promising results in animal models and are now being optimized for testing in human clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases.PharmatropiX has seen great success with their previously funded programs focused on "NGF mimetics". This program has stimulated much interest from major pharmaceutical companies. Because of the success to date, PTX is currently working to move forward its BDNF program in a similar manner to the NGF program. Funding proposed here will support the next steps which include: applying medicinal chemistry approaches to create additional derivatives that will strengthen intellectual property status and optimize blood brain barrier penetration; and application of a prototype BDNF mimetic to an Alzheimer's mouse model.