90+ Study: Learning from the oldest-old Researchers can learn a lot about how Alzheimer’s develops by studying people at increased risk. People older than age 90, or the oldest-old, are the fastest growing segment of the population in the United States and most of the world and have the highest rates of dementia. Remarkably, the oldest-old also have the highest rate of cognitive resilience and somehow avoid developing dementia despite having brain pathologies. This populations’ high rates of dementia, yet also resilience, make it an optimal group to study to understand the underlying causes of dementia. The 90+ Study, launched in…
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This International Women's Day, UCI MIND remains committed to understanding why almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's are women. Research conducted in partnership with Maria Shriver’s Women's Alzheimer's Movement, whose organization has awarded $500,000 to UCI MIND since its launch in 2017, seeks to answer that question. Show your support by advocating, donating, and participating in research today!
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The Winter 2022 edition of UCI Magazine features UCI MIND researchers, including David Sultzer, MD, Michael Yassa, PhD, and more! Read the latest edition of UCI Magazine here >
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Contributed by Elizabeth Head, Josh Grill, and Ira Lott A diagram depicting trisomy-21 - Source: LuMIND People with Down syndrome are at high risk for developing Alzheimer disease beginning after the age of 40 years. This is due, in part, to the extra copy of chromosome 21, which contains the amyloid precursor protein gene and leads to higher production of beta-amyloid with age. Indeed, there is evidence that the overproduction of amyloid in Down syndrome is a strong driver of Alzheimer disease, which is why treatments targeting beta-amyloid could be impactful for this group of adults. In our current exciting…
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Discover Magazine: Aging dogs can develop canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), sometimes known as “doggie dementia.” The brains of dogs with CCD show only amyloid beta plaques, not tau tangles, but their symptoms are similar to the symptoms of dementia in humans, explains Elizabeth Head, director of the graduate program in experimental pathology at the University of California, Irvine. “They’ll forget how to signal that they need to go out,” Head says. “In the more severe stages of the disease, they can become incontinent and may not recognize people.” She points out that because dogs live closely with humans, any behavioral changes…
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Contributed by Christian Salazar, PhD Source: National Institute on Aging Black Americans are more likely than White Americans to be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. This may be of no surprise considering that some of the same risk factors of heart disease that disproportionately affect African Americans in midlife- obesity, type-2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension- can also impact brain health later in life. Black Americans can therefore benefit from participating in clinical trials like the AHEAD 3/45 study, which aims to test whether an investigational treatment can slow or stop the earliest brain changes due to Alzheimer’s disease in people with a…
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Contributed by Hayk Davtyan, Ph.D. and Christel Claes, Ph.D. While the word “mutation” may conjure up alarming notions, a mutation in brain immune cells serves a positive role in protecting people against Alzheimer’s disease. Now UCI MIND biologists have discovered the mechanisms behind this crucial process. Their paper appears in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The investigation centered on a variant of the PLCG2 gene, which makes the instructions for producing an enzyme important to brain immune cells called microglia. “Recently the mutation, which is known as P522R, was shown to lower the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s,” said Hayk…
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Renewal recognizes UCI's dedication to patient care and active engagement in research to develop new therapeutic approaches February 15, 2022 “Renewal of certification as a Huntington’s Disease Society of America Center of Excellence is very exciting, as this will help us expand our patient care and research. HD was one of the first diseases for which a genetic cause was determined and serves as a paradigm for research into other such diseases,” says Leslie Thompson, Ph.D., Donald Bren and Chancellor’s professor in the departments of psychiatry and human behavior and biological chemistry at the UCI School of Medicine. UCI has…
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In a scientific first, UCI researchers have discovered fundamental mechanisms by which the hippocampus region of the brain organizes memories into sequences and how this can be used to plan future behavior. The finding may be a critical early step toward understanding memory failures in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Norbert Fortin (right), UCI associate professor of neurobiology and behavior, is corresponding author on the study, while Babak Shahbaba, UCI Chancellor’s Fellow and professor of statistics, is senior co-author. UCI
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UCI MIND #InTheNews: Forbes: "According to UCI, the new center will involve collaborations across seven areas: SMART (statistics, machine learning-artificial intelligence) designs software to integrate and analyze health records, molecular data, and observation. This unit will be led by Daniel Gillen, professor and chair of statistics, and Zhaoxia Yu, associate professor of statistics... Precision omics generates, analyzes, and administers genomic, proteomic, and chemical data. It’s led by Suzanne Sandmeyer, professor of biological chemistry, and Leslie Thompson, the Donald Bren and Chancellor's Professor of psychiatry & human behavior at UCI... The institute will take special aim at diseases that heretofore have lacked effective treatments. “For many…
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