President Boon Ja Yoo Lee (center) awarded with Ellis Island Medal of Honor stands with decorated officers, friends and family who attended the event, including Dr. Hye-Won Shin (center lower left) and Eugene (second from left) and Carol (third from right) Choi. UCI MIND proudly celebrates Boon Ja Yoo Lee, who is a 2025 recipient of the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor, for her outstanding contributions to Alzheimer's and dementia caregiving research, medical education, and public advocacy. As the first Korean American member of the UCI MIND Leadership Council, Boon Ja has played a transformative role in elevating the…
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Last week was an especially busy one for members of our team at national Alzheimer’s disease research meetings in San Francisco. First, several of our investigators attended the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Centers Spring Directors’ Meeting, a semi-annual gathering of the 35 NIH funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs). This meeting serves as an opportunity for ADRC teams to learn about programmatic updates, share research findings, and forge new collaborations. Dr. Shi accepts a 2025 NACC REC Rising Star Award This year, Xiaoyu Shi, PhD, a UCI ADRC REC Scholar and Associate Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology, was awarded…
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Dr. Leslie Thompson was interviewed for KTLA News about a local woman who was recently diagnosed with Huntington's disease. To watch her interview, click this link.
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As one of the most diverse racial groups in the United States, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations are projected to grow significantly in the next 30 years —especially among older adults—yet they remain drastically underrepresented in aging, dementia, and caregiving research. This creates a gap in our understanding of how cultural, linguistic, and social factors affect health outcomes later in life. To address this disparity, the Collaborative Approach for AANHPI Research and Education (CARE) Registry was developed at UCSF with leadership from Dr. Joshua Grill and others at UCI MIND with the goal to easily connect…
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An article in Martha Stewart Magazine about the 10 hobbies that can "improve" brain health featured a 2020 article by Dr. Craig Stark on a 4-week video intervention in older adults. Read the article here
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The Daily Mail featured the Blurton-Jones Lab for their recent work on microglia replacement. Read the article in the Daily Mail here.
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Co-author Dr. Ghazaleh Eskandari-Sedighi and postdoctoral scholar in the Blurton-Jones Lab The Blurton-Jones lab, in collaboration with several other prominent research groups in the US and Japan, recently published an article in the journal Nature describing the role of TIM-3, a newly characterized molecule implicated in sporadic AD. The lead researchers on the project, Drs. Oleg Butovsy and Vijay Kuchroo, from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, discovered the signaling pathway through which TIM-3, an immune-checkpoint molecule (encoded by HAVCR2 gene) regulates microglia function. The Blurton-Jones Lab played a critical role in this project by providing the human microglia modeling platform needed to complement…
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University of California, Irvine scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain, potentially revolutionizing the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. By engineering human immune cells called microglia the researchers have created living cellular “couriers” capable of responding to brain pathology and releasing therapeutic agents exactly where needed. The National Institutes of Health-supported study, published recently in Cell Stem Cell, demonstrates for the first time that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)- -derived microglia can be genetically programmed to detect disease-specific brain changes – like amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease – and to…
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Dean LaFerla gives a presentation on MODEL-AD The Alzheimer’s Disease Parkinson’s Disease (ADPD) 2025 International Conference, held this year in Vienna, Austria, is an annual gathering for scientific experts and industry leaders in neurodegenerative diseases. This conference serves as a platform for sharing the latest scientific breakthroughs, clinical trial results, and innovative treatment strategies. With attendees from over 70 countries giving more than 1,200 poster presentations and 700 oral presentations, ADPD uniquely combines discussions on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and related disorders, fostering a deeper understanding of their respective mechanisms and potential therapies. The conference also highlights the importance of global collaboration,…
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Assistant professor in Physiology & Biophysics and UCI MIND faculty co-authored a paper in the journal Nature that reveals a mechanism for memory preservation. To read a summary of the article, visit Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
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