Contributed by Vivek Swarup, PhD The brain is made up of billions of cells that are tightly coordinated in complex neural circuitry and are ultimately responsible for manifesting our memories, emotions, and personalities: the very essence of being human. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders worldwide and results in cognitive decline and memory loss, and we presently do not have effective treatments for AD. There is a pressing need to deepen our understanding of AD, and by studying how individual cells are changing in disease, or identifying those that are resilient to such changes, we…
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Leslie Vazquez-Rangel, a fourth-year undergraduate at UCI was recently selected to participate in the prestigious Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program, an NIH funded training grant that is awarded to only 640 students across the US each year. The program will allow a select few PhD-bound honors students like Leslie to engage in meaningful research under the guidance of world-renowned professors. Leslie will spend the next year working with Dr. Elizabeth Head, a professor in the Department of Pathology to study the link between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. To learn more about Leslie and the incredible research being done in Dr. Head’s lab, visit https://sites.mind.uci.edu/headlab
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In this Nov, 22, 2019, photo, Charles Flagg, who is stricken with Alzheimer's disease, rests his arm during his infusion while participating in a study on the drug Aducanumab at Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I. New results were released on the experimental medicine whose maker claims it can slow the decline of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) A crucial, overlooked question on the new Alzheimer’s drug: When should patients stop taking it? STAT News - June 24, 2021 “When we enroll families in studies of treatments like aducanumab, we try to educate them that…
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People taking drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier experienced less cognitive decline June 21, 2021 The research conducted by Daniel Nation, UCI associate professor of psychological science, and Jean Ho, a postdoctoral scholar at the UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, included more than 12,800 people over the age of 50 in 14 separate studies carried out across six countries. Steve Zylius / UCI Irvine, Calif., June 21, 2021 — A large-scale meta-analysis led by University of California, Irvine researchers provides the strongest evidence yet of which blood pressure medications help slow memory loss in older adults: those that can…
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Marc Archambault, who has early-stage Alzheimer's disease, receives his first dose Wednesday of the newly approved intravenous drug Aduhelm at Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I. (Jessica Rinaldi/Pool/Reuters) “My greatest concern is around people with families with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Joshua D. Grill, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of California at Irvine. “Few can afford the financial burden in the first place, let alone the additional costs of Aduhelm.” He said the cost of an amyloid PET scan was at least $5,000. “Doctors, families, even we researchers need more guidance,” Grill said. Spinal taps offer a more affordable way of determining…
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KATU News: “We all have to do more because this is about the most important medical problem we face as a society today," said Dr. Josh Grill, a member of the AHEAD Study leadership team and director of the UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders. Grill said his AHEAD Study team is testing a new investigational treatment, examining whether they can slow slow or stop the earliest brain changes due to Alzheimer's disease in people with a higher risk of developing the disease later in life. The team is seeking volunteers on its website: https://www.aheadstudy.org/ "All research…
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Join UCI MIND Director Joshua Grill, PhD & Neurologist Gaby Thai, MD Thursday, June 24 @ 12 PM PT for a discussion on the FDA's recent decision on aducanumab, Aduhelm! Bring your Qs Thursday to: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/188018221232375/posts/4358845157482973/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLxt0zIG6vY
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Contributed by Daniel Gillen, PhD Earlier today, the FDA granted approval of Biogen Inc’s aducanumab, to be sold under the brand name Aduhelm, to treat the underlying cause of AD. As I wrote back in November of 2020, multiple issues in the clinical program for aducanumab make objective assessment of the clinical efficacy of the drug difficult. I was not alone as the FDA advisory committee also noted them. The first obvious issue is that the two parallel Phase 3 trials, called studies 301 and 302, that this approval is based on were discrepant in their results. Generally speaking, FDA…
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Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD Today, June 7, the US Food and Drug Administration approved aducanumab, a monoclonal antibody against beta amyloid, the protein that builds up in the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease. It has been more than 15 years since the last approval of an Alzheimer’s drug. Unlike the previously approved therapies, aducanumab directly targets the biological changes in the brain caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The data that the FDA used to decide to approve aducanumab were controversial, resulting from three clinical trials – one Phase 1B trial and two large Phase 3 trials. The controversy…
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MarketWatch As we age, our already limited attention span shrinks even more. So it takes extra discipline for seniors to stay curious. … Craig Stark, , a memory researcher at University of California, Irvine, urges people who want to stay mentally sharp to “feed your brain novel information.” Curiosity can provide the impetus to gather that new information.
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