Message from the Director Dear Friends of UCI MIND, Please enjoy the latest issue of MIND Matters from UCI MIND. In this Spring issue, we highlight a number of exciting updates about the impact UCI MIND investigators are having in the field. On the cover, post-doctoral fellow Dr. Claire Butler highlights progress made by the collaborative MODEL-AD group, including a publication she led. Another post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Jessica Noche, highlights an exciting collaboration in which UCI MIND investigators are playing a leading role on the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative (page 4). We also highlight several awards…
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Today, the US Food and Drug Administration granted full clinical approval to Eli Lilly to market donanemab, brand name KISUNLA, for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease, including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or mild dementia. Donanemab is a monoclonal antibody against the beta-amyloid protein that accumulates in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This represents the second ever full approval for a drug that directly targets the biology of Alzheimer’s disease. Image by Andrew Harnik/AP Donanemab was shown in a Phase 2 and then in a Phase 3 trial to have a significant impact on brain amyloid burden. In…
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A June 17 article in the Los Angeles Times highlighted an important safety risk associated with the new class of medications recently approved for treating Alzheimer’s disease. The drugs are anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies and include aducanumab, donanemab, and lecanemab. Of these, only lecanemab has achieved full FDA approval at the time of writing. The side effects are collectively known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, or ARIA, and are potential side effects for each of these drugs, though with differential frequencies observed across the clinical trials of these medications. The specific drug side effects include what are often referred to as bleeding…
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Today, the FDA convened its Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee to review the data from pivotal clinical trials of donanemab, a monoclonal antibody against the beta amyloid protein that accumulates in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease. One of these trials was conducted at UCI MIND. The efficacy of donanemab in treating early Alzheimer’s disease in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment and mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease is largely agreed to have been demonstrated. The bulk of the discussion at the meeting emphasized other aspects, such as the safety…
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Dr. Bryce Mender UCI News highlighted a newly published study led by Bryce Mander, PhD, a UCI MIND faculty member and associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior, showing a link between sleep apnea and a decline in verbal memory. To read the article in UCI News, click here.
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Dr. Liz Chrastil Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior and UCI MIND faculty member, Elizabeth Chrastil, PhD, is featured in a Wall Street Journal article about studying her own brain in an MRI during pregnancy. To read the article and learn more about Dr. Chrastil's research, click here
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In an interview with Medical News Today, Dr. Ahmad Sajjadi says that, "having a ‘perfect memory’ can lead to redundant information...” To read the article on differentiating between normal aging and dementia, click here.
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Dr. Daniel Gillen Daniel Gillen, PhD, Chancellor's Professor and Chair of Statistics and the leader for the ADRC Data Management and Statistics Core was recently named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Gillen will be honored in September in Washington D.C. for this rare achievement.
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The UC Irvine School of Medicine recognized the 2024 best mentors and Elizabeth Head, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine was awarded the Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year. Dr. Head leads the Research Education Component (REC) of the UCI MIND Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and co-leads the TITAN T32 training grant.
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For patients experiencing cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), choosing the most appropriate treatment course at the right time is of great importance. A key element to these decisions is the careful consideration of the available scientific evidence, particularly from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) such as the recent lecanemab trial. Translating RCT results into patient-level decisions, however, can be challenging. This is because trial results tell us about the outcomes of groups rather than individuals. A doctor must judge how similar their patient is to the groups studied in trials. For AD, where patients vary widely in clinical presentations…
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Jessica Noche, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar and REMIND co-chair recently published an article in the Journal of Neuroscience with UCI MIND faculty, Craig Stark, PhD, and Elizabeth Head, PhD, on the importance of playtime and socialization to increase regional brain size in aging beagles. Read their article and the summary of the study in Health Day
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As we celebrate Women's History Month this March, we also find ourselves at a historic moment in scientific inquiry for women’s health research. Today, nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women, but the underlying cause of this sex disparity is still poorly understood. For decades, research focusing on women's health has been inadequate, with a mere 0.5% of all neuroimaging studies conducted over the past 25 years focusing on women's health. The potential to reach new heights in our understanding of the brain, especially today in the era of “big data” and artificial intelligence, is promising, but requires…
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Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD, UCI Neurologist and UCI MIND faculty member, was quoted in Healthline regarding the recent announcement by FDA to delay the decision to approve Eli Lilly's amyloid targeting drug, donanemab. Click here to read the article.
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Tianchen Qian, PhD Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD UCI MIND faculty member and UCI Neurologist, Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD, awarded UCI Institute for Precision Health Pilot Award. Dr. Sajjadi will work with Tianchen Qian, PhD, a REC trainee and assistant professor of Statistics at UCI to study early detection of AD using deep machine learning. For a description of the project and to see other awarded projects, click here.
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The FDA today announced that it will convene an advisory panel to review the data submitted to support potential approval of donanemab, a monoclonal antibody against the beta amyloid protein that demonstrated efficacy in early Alzheimer’s disease in a recent Phase 3 clinical trial. A positive decision to approve donanemab had been expected before the end of this month. Though data for donanemab’s ability to lower brain amyloid levels are convincing, the FDA had opted not to grant accelerated approval to the drug, citing limited safety data. This contrasted the agency’s decisions for two other amyloid-lowering drugs, aducanumab and lecanemab…
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Message from the Director Dear Friends of UCI MIND, Happy New Year! We hope that 2024 is off to a positive start for you. As we embark upon a new year, UCI MIND and the field of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) research are abuzz with excitement about progress made and opportunities to further advance our field. At the end of 2023, we held our annual signature fundraising event, the December to Remember Gala. We honored Lauren Miller Rogen and Seth Rogen, the founders of Hilarity for Charity (HFC) and our partners in a program to mentor and inspire…
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Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD, a UCI Neurologist and UCI MIND faculty member was interviewed live on NBC Los Angeles about the recent announcement that talk show host Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Watch the interviews here: 4pm and 7pm broadcasts
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Amyloid PET scan The LA Times recently published a fairly negative appraisal of the construct of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The article described the recent effort by an international committee to update diagnostic criteria that date back to 1984, updated in 2011 and again in 2018. The most recent updates have been presented at meetings and published online and have indeed been the source of debate and disagreement in the field. But the LA Times article goes quite a bit further, essentially asking if one particular aspect of the criteria—the definition of preclinical AD—exists mainly to benefit pharmaceutical and medical…
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Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe Biogen, the maker of aducanumab has announced that it will terminate the Phase 4 trial required by the FDA for aducanumab, the monoclonal antibody against beta amyloid that received accelerated approval in 2021. The company is also halting production of the compound and relinquishing ownership rights to the original developer, Neurimmune. Accelerated approval was based on the demonstration in multiple studies that treatment with aducanumab could lower brain amyloid in people with Alzheimer’s disease. But two Phase 3 trials gave contrasting results about aducanumab’s efficacy, preventing the FDA from granting full clinical approval for the medication.…
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The medications have not been widely tested in Black people with the disease, underscoring stark — and persistent — disparities Robert Williford, 67, receives a dose of Leqembi at Abington Neurological Associates in Abington, Pa. (Hannah Yoon for The Washington Post) ABINGTON, Pa. — Wrapped in a purple blanket, Robert Williford settles into a quiet corner of a bustling neurology clinic, an IV line delivering a colorless liquid into his left arm. The 67-year-old, who has early Alzheimer’s disease, is getting his initial dose of Leqembi. The drug is the first to clearly slow the fatal neurodegenerative ailment that afflicts 6.7…
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Black people know intrinsically about the myriad of life areas negatively impacted by the fact that the myth of white supremacy is baked into the foundations of all American institutions. But one area that doesn’t get enough attention is how racism robs Blacks of one of nature’s most powerful healing agents – sleep. Blacks have disproportionately higher rates of sleep disorders (sleep apnea, insomnia, more light and less deep sleep, delayed onset, more daytime sleepiness, and shorter sleep duration) compared to any other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. These disparities are compounded by the fact that they contribute…
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Scientists in an MRI control area plan a focused ultrasound treatment at West Virginia University's Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. (Victor Finomore/WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute/AP) In the first study of its kind in humans, researchers have discovered that it is safe to use sound waves fired into specific areas of the brain to open a protective barrier and clear the way for Alzheimer’s medications. The study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved just three patients, but it raises hope about the long-term potential of the treatment strategy known as focused ultrasound. Joshua Grill, professor of psychiatry and human behavior…
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93 colored candles on a cake are being lit. (Getty Images) TAMPA (BLOOM) – Join us as we explore strategies—from mindful living to emerging technologies—and discover how every choice can lead to a longer and healthier life. Welcome to the science of aging, where the pursuit of health and happiness is the entire goal. Lifestyle Habits for Longevity Avoiding Harmful Substances In the pursuit of a longer, healthier life, steering clear of harmful substances is an obvious decision. Dr. Claudia Kawas, a distinguished neurologist at the University of California, Irvine, sounds the alarm on two major culprits: smoking and excessive alcohol…
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Joshua Grill, Professor, Psychiatry & Human Behavior. photo: Steve Zylius/UCI UCI MIND Director, Dr. Joshua Grill, is quoted in Neurology Today for his work with colleagues at USC, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Eisai on racial and ethnic disparities in eligibility for Alzheimer's disease clinical trials. To read the article, click here.
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