This Hispanic Heritage Month, we proudly recognize the invaluable contributions of our faculty, staff, community partners, and supporters who are dedicated to addressing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in the Hispanic and Latino communities. Our mission to advance Alzheimer’s research is strengthened by the passion and collaboration of those working on the front lines to ensure more inclusive research and care. At the forefront of these efforts is our Hispanic Community Advisory Board, led by Dr. Christian Salazar. The Board is instrumental in guiding us on best practices for building strong connections with the more than 1 million Hispanic and…

AlzForum, the popular online publication for Alzheimer's researchers, published a summary of recent advances from the MODEL-AD teams and highlighted the work of the principal investigators at UCI, Drs. Kim Green, Andrea Tenner, and Frank LaFerla.  The article also called attention to innovative research in the Green Lab, including work by postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Claire Butler and graduate student Kristine Tran.   To read the article, click here.

The New York Times recently covered a remarkable study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study performed clinical and imaging assessments of 353 adults deemed to be in a minimally conscious or persistent vegetative state. These individuals, who had experienced severe brain injury, stroke, or hypoxia after cardiac arrest were unable to respond to any verbal command. Remarkably, 25% of the patients, when assessed with MRI or EEG, demonstrated an ability to respond to commands with their brain. That is, when they were asked to imagine themselves doing something, their brain response was the same as a normal adult's…

A recent article in the New York Times, How Poor Sleep Affects Your Risk of Dementia, summarizes some recent findings showing both excessively short and long sleep, as well as sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, insomnia, and rapid-eye movement (REM) behavior disorder, may be linked with risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or other forms of dementia. Our recent findings from multiple studies at UCI are consistent with this interpretation. For example, in our most recent study , in collaboration with Alzheimer Biomarkers Consortium — Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) and UCI MIND investigators, we found symptoms of insomnia were more prevalent…

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…

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…