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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