Alzheimer's

Data Mining for Dementia Clues

IRP Research Examines Under-Appreciated Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease

brain with red area in the middle representing inflammation

This June, the observance of Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness month reminds us just how devastating the impact of Alzheimer’s and other dementias is across the world. About 55 million people are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias such as frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia. This includes the estimated 6.7 million people in the U.S. over age 65 with Alzheimer’s disease, a population whose cognitive decline imposes huge financial costs on the American economy and often unrecognized burdens on the unpaid family members who provide care for those patients.

While the disease has been a target of intensive investigation ever since Alois Alzheimer first discovered clumps of amyloid beta protein and tangles of tau in the brain of a deceased patient in 1906, scientists have made only modest progress in treating it. Efforts to design drugs targeting the abnormal globs of amyloid and tau thought to cause Alzheimer’s have met with only limited success. That’s why IRP investigator Keenan Walker, Ph.D., is taking a different approach: exploring the link between dementia risk and the immune system.

Poster Sessions Celebrate Summer Science

Annual Event Brandishes the Next Generation of Clinicians and Scientists

Andrés Gorbea, Sarah Bengtson, Lietsel Jones, Michaella Bono, and Joseph Grech

A year after hundreds of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students were only able to participate from afar in NIH’s 2021 Summer Internship Program, IRP researchers were excited to welcome some of the program’s 2022 participants to campus. Regardless of whether they were working in the lab or remotely, these budding scientists received a full-time immersion into the world of IRP science and, surely, learned a great deal from the mentorship of NIH’s many world-renowned researchers.

To celebrate the interns’ hard work, NIH’s Summer Poster Days on August 3 and 4 gave more than 600 of them the opportunity to virtually present posters explaining their projects. With so many bright young men and women displaying the fruits of their scientific labors, it was difficult to select just a handful to highlight in this blog. Read on to learn about how five of NIH’s 2022 summer interns shed light on topics from the microbes living on our skin to the blood-clotting platelets that flow through our veins.

Poster Days Spotlight Young Researchers

Budding Scientists Showcase Research at Annual Event

Yasmin Ali

Any scientist who wants to make game-changing discoveries has to start somewhere — even Albert Einstein worked in a patent office before landing his first job in academia. Through its Postbaccalaureate IRTA program, NIH hopes to give aspiring scientists more of a leg up than Einstein had by bringing them into IRP labs after they complete their undergraduate studies.

On April 26, 27, and 28, more than 900 recent college graduates participating in the program presented at this year’s virtual Postbac Poster Days. Read on to learn about a few of these young researchers and their contributions to the groundbreaking work being done at NIH.

An Unlikely Target in the Fight Against Alzheimer’s

IRP Researchers Find Link Between Dementia and Byproducts of Cholesterol Breakdown

old man in nursing home

When most people think about Alzheimer’s disease, the liver is probably the organ least likely to come to mind. Yet recent IRP research suggests that molecules called bile acids, which are synthesized in the liver, may influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In honor of Brain Awareness Week this week, we’re diving into that work to learn how such an unlikely target could help lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

To date, efforts to develop therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 6 million Americans over the age of 65, have achieved little success. Many scientists are focused on proteins in the brain as potential treatment targets, including the ‘amyloid-beta’ protein now infamous amongst Alzheimer’s researchers. In contrast, IRP senior investigator Madhav Thambisetty, M.D., Ph.D., has been exploring the role that cholesterol might play in the development of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, which is marked by microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage and is the second most common form of dementia.

Experimental Compound Supercharges Cellular Power Plants

Treatment Approach Could Combat Obesity and Its Consequences

light bulb

When your phone or laptop is low on power, you simply connect it to a charger and find the nearest electrical outlet, but the process of restoring lagging energy production in our cells is not nearly as simple. However, a new IRP study has identified a promising approach for doing just that, which could lead to new treatments for obesity and related metabolic ailments like heart disease and diabetes.

Alzheimer’s Patients Show Traces of Cellular Batteries in Blood

Biomarker Discovery Could Aid Diagnosis and Therapeutic Development

extracellular vesicles containing genetic material

Our cells can’t afford to be wasteful, so they prefer to recycle broken components. However, when the mitochondria that provide their energy are damaged beyond repair, cells may have no choice but to throw them out. New IRP research suggests that more of this mitochondrial debris floats in the blood of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, potentially providing an easy, cost-effective way to diagnose or even possibly predict the illness.

IRP’s Robert Tycko Elected to National Academy of Sciences

NIH Researcher Recognized for Contributions to Structural Biology Techniques

Dr. Robert Tycko

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), established in 1863, is comprised of the United States’ most distinguished scientific scholars, including nearly 500 Nobel Prize winners. Members of the NAS are elected by their peers and entrusted with the responsibility of providing independent, objective advice on national matters related to science and technology in an effort to advance innovations in the United States.

IRP senior investigator Robert Tycko, Ph.D., was one of two NIH researchers elected to the NAS in 2020, an honor he hopes will give him the opportunity to help other scientists and improve the way science is done.

Dietary Supplement Powers Alzheimer’s-Afflicted Neurons

Mouse Study Supports Potential of Ketone-Elevating Treatment

fuel gauge showing empty

Whether from candy, soda, or fruit, sugar is the preferred source of sustenance for many people, and also for their brains. However, in patients with Alzheimer's disease, brain cells are less capable of turning sugar into energy. New IRP research provides evidence that this problem and the cognitive symptoms it causes could be partially solved by providing the brain with an alternative fuel.

Reining in Runaway Enzyme Halts Neuronal Destruction

Mouse Study Supports Potential Treatment Approach for Numerous Neurological Diseases

mouse spinal cord neurons

Winter is fast approaching, bringing with it both picturesque snow flurries and raging blizzards. It's a good reminder that something that is desirable in moderate amounts can be downright dangerous in large quantities, and the systems that keep our cells healthy are no different. IRP researchers recently found a novel way to tamp down a runaway cellular process that can kill neurons, findings that may one day lead to new treatments for several debilitating neurological conditions.

Cellular Garbage Aids Quest for Alzheimer’s Blood Test

Experimental Approach Predicts Future Alzheimer’s Diagnoses

exosomes

If you looked through my garbage, you would probably find a litany of apple cores (my favorite fruit) and a couple fundraising requests from my alma mater. Similarly, scientists can learn a lot about what is going on in cells by examining their trash. IRP researchers recently developed a blood test that may be able to predict Alzheimer’s disease years before the onset of symptoms by examining packages of waste products from neurons.