Community Events

With the generous support of Don and Joan Beall, UCI MIND and its trainee organization REMIND hosted the second annual and first-ever in-person Beall Scholar Program July 18-22 on the UCI campus. The goal of the program is to inspire students who are typically underrepresented in STEM fields to pursue careers in brain research and geriatric medicine.  Sixteen rising 12th graders were chosen from a very competitive pool of applicants from Santa Ana and Anaheim Unified School Districts.  Fifty percent of the chosen scholars will be the first in their family to attend college. The program included lectures from UCI MIND faculty and trainees...

We’re celebrating #OlderAmericansMonth (OAM) this month! This year, our theme is Age My Way. We’re focusing on how older adults can plan, participate, and connect in ways they choose while aging in place, living independently in their communities for as long as possible. Find OAM resources at Visit http://ow.ly/LB2L50IVOO0

The Head lab celebrating World Down Syndrome Day with their crazy socks! Some of those featured include: Liz Head Lorena Sordo Elizabeth Andrews Jeremy Rouanet Cherie Lepe Lisi Flores-Aguilar Jesse Pascual Learn more about Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease at https://sites.mind.uci.edu/headlab

UCI MIND Director Dr. Josh Grill is giving a talk on Zoom about Dementia Care, hosted by Happy 50 Plus, on March 24, 2022 from 4-5:30 PM. He will be speaking on “Effective Diagnosis and Treatment for Alzheimer’s, and What’s New on the Horizon.” This event will be in English with Mandarin Chinese translation. The talk is free to join, but pre-registration is required. Zoom Registration link: bit.ly/DementiaCare0324 Please see the flyer below for information regarding this upcoming event.

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!

We are pleased to announce that the in-person support group meetings for families who are caring for individuals living with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease are resuming next month in March.  All details may be found in the flyer linked here and below. These meetings are co-sponsored by The Down Syndrome Program at UCI MIND, The Regional Center of Orange County, and Alzheimer’s Orange County, in collaboration with the Down Syndrome Association of Orange County.

Here's to a great year of podcasting with our new series for caregiver stories, Spotlight on Care! Let's take a look at 2021: Top Episode Recognizing the Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease with Bill Edwards was the most popular episode of Spotlight on Care in 2021. It was published on February 02 and has been downloaded 186 times. Listen to it here! 19 Episodes In 2021, Spotlight on Care published 10 hours of new content across 19 episodes. That’s 587 minutes or 35,256 seconds to be more precise. 2,311 Downloads In 2021, Spotlight on Care episodes were downloaded 2,311 times thanks...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) clinical trials require the enrollment of two people: a participant and a study partner. Study partners play critical roles for trial success. Yet, little is known about the impact of study partners, especially in trials that enroll individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). At this year’s Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference in Boston, Navneet Hakhu from the Grill/Gillen lab presented data about who study partners are in these important clinical trials. He showed that the prevalence of adult child and other dyads was much lower than that of spousal dyads. But importantly, these adult child and other dyads were much more likely…

Cognitive assessments are a crucial part of Alzheimer’s disease studies as these help track cognitive decline; however, these assessments may be subject to a practice effect, an improvement in scores due to familiarity with the assessment. Practice effects can mask cognitive decline, so it is important to understand whether these exist in commonly used assessments. At this year’s Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference in Boston, Michelle Nuño in the labs of Drs. Joshua Grill and Daniel Gillen, presented the group’s work investigating whether the letter fluency test, a commonly used assessment, is subject to a practice effect. Through…

TODAY is #GivingTuesday – a day that celebrates generosity in all its forms!  In honor of this global generosity movement, make a gift today to UCI MIND. We hope you will expand our capacity to conduct promising research and advance progress toward ending Alzheimer’s disease by supporting the UCI MIND Alzheimer’s Disease Excellence Fund. GIVE NOW

Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday – a day that celebrates generosity in all its forms! In honor of this global generosity movement, consider making a gift today to UCI MIND. We rely on the support of people like you in our community to advance life-changing research and accelerate the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, a devastating illness that impacts more than 6 million Americans and their families. GIVE NOW We hope you will support us by Giving Tuesday, November 30th, 2021 #GivingTuesday

This month is #NationalCaregiversMonth – a time to recognize and honor family caregivers across California and raise awareness to increase support for caregivers. Many caregivers work and provide care which can make it challenging to maintain their own well-being. . As a caregiver, it’s essential to take care of yourself, too. The California Department of Aging has compiled a list of resources to assist you in this role. https://bit.ly/ALZDcare

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging. Someone with Alzheimer’s disease may show signs of: Memory loss that disrupts daily life, such as getting lost in a familiar place or repeating questions. Difficulty completing familiar tasks. Confusion with time or place. Change in mood, personality, or behavior. If you or a loved one shows signs listed above, consult your health care provider. For more information on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, see https://bit.ly/ALZD10

  Join Neuropsychologist Dr. Michelle McDonnell on Thursday, Oct 21 @ 12 PM PT for a live discussion and Q&A on what to do if you suspect that you have a #memory problem. Bring your questions! See you Thursday on: Facebook YouTube

Congratulations to UC Irvine Neurobiology and Behavior graduate student, Marina Ritchie for receiving the award for Best Virtual Student Poster in the theme of Drug Development at this year’s Alzheimer’s Association International Conference #AAIC2021! Her poster, on “Estimating attrition in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment clinical trials,” excellently conveyed her research to the judges and attendees at the esteemed conference earlier this year. As a 3rd year graduate student in the labs of Drs. Josh Grill and Daniel Gillen, Marina’s research focuses on identifying means to improve recruitment, retention and overall study design in Alzheimer’s disease and related…

UCI MIND at #AAIC María M. Corrada, ScM, ScD contributes: In The Life After 90 Study, a one-of-a-kind multiethnic cohort of individuals 90 and older, memory concerns appear to identify individuals with objective cognitive impairment but do not identify those whose cognition may decline faster. With additional enrollment and longer follow-up, we will continue to explore the utility of memory concerns in predicting future cognitive performance and potential ethnoracial differences in a segment of the population that is often excluded from research.

JOIN US FOR A FREE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: “Alzheimer’s from all angles” About the Conference Join Alzheimer’s Orange County and UCI MIND for the 32nd Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference. This free, half-day, virtual conference will cover a wide range of topics concerning Alzheimer’s disease, from updates on research, to treatments, diagnostics, risk factors, and genetic resilience. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on brain health will also be discussed. Friday, September 10, 2021, 8AM-12PM PT Free and open to the public Livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube Who Should Attend? Healthcare Providers Senior and Social Service Providers Researchers Students…

Thank you for your generous support of UCI MIND for UCI Giving Day. We raised over $18,000 to directly support Alzheimer’s disease research. To learn more about UCI MIND, we invite you to check out our 2020 Annual Report. Thank you!

Contributed by Ashley A. Keiser, PhD A new study from researchers in Sweden published in Brain finds faster accumulation of a major hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, neurofibrillary protein aggregates containing tau in female, compared with male brains. Researchers also found greater memory impairments in women with Alzheimer’s disease. Sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease risk have been extensively reported. Particularly, women exhibit greater cognitive impairment and the rate of acceleration of impairment is observed to exceed men. Women are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Although previous cross-sectional studies that capture a single data point in time…