In the News

Dr. Arvid Carlsson passed away this past Friday at the age of 95. His research into dopamine led to the development of treatments for Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that involves tremors and rigidity. Dr. Carlsson showed that dopamine was a neurotransmitter and that it is critical to movement. Dopamine is depleted in Parkinson’s disease and the drug L-dopa can be used to treat patients with this neurological disease. Dr. Carlsson's findings earned him the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with noted American researchers Dr. Eric Kandel and Paul Greengard. UCI MIND is grateful for the work…

Getty Images Click here to read an article in AARP, and learn how even mild high blood pressure in midlife can have a significant impact on brain health in later life. UCI MIND faculty member and Co-Principal Investigator of the 90+ Study, Dr. Maria Corrada, is quoted in the article.

UCI MIND sends a hearty congratulations to Dr. Frank LaFerla, who has been appointed to a second five-year term as dean of the UCI School of Biological Sciences. As Dean, Dr. LaFerla has taken the school to new heights, launching successful public lecture series, increasing philanthropy, and of course supporting cutting edge research. During his tenure, research funding in the school has grown by 35 percent and 15 new outstanding faculty members have been hired. Please join us in congratulating Dean LaFerla on this reappointment. Learn more >

Danny Harper & Burton Young By Danny Harper, Senior Director of Development The faculty and staff of UCI MIND, congratulate Burton Young and his fellow honorees on receiving the Men of Character recognition by the Orange County Boy Scouts of America. I had the pleasure of attending this year’s event, and I was inspired by the stories of the six men who were honored. While each shared his unique journey, there were consistent themes in each of their stories. Each, in his turn, spoke about the importance of hard work, giving back and family. These themes resonate deeply with my…

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) By Danny Harper, Senior Director of Development, UCI MIND Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans lose friends and loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease. When a celebrity passes from Alzheimer’s, it brings a higher level of attention to the disease that affects millions of Americans and more than 84,000 people right here in Orange County. Whether or not you personally know someone who has lived with Alzheimer’s, we can all get a glimpse into the disease through the lives of public figures who have been afflicted. From Rosa Parks to Ronald Reagan to Glen Campbell, and now including NPR’s…

Getty Images This week, Congress finalized the 2018 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which included a $414 million increase in funding for Alzheimer's disease research. This brings the total amount of dementia research funding to $1.8 billion. Thank you to all, including our research participants, faculty, staff, and community partners, who advocate tirelessly for increased funding, resources, and awareness for Alzheimer's disease. "Costs for treating Alzheimer’s in particular eat up billions in federal spending each year, something lawmakers said could be prevented if the NIH can develop a cure," The Hill reported (read more>). Continued investment in…

Marcelo Wood, PhD Dr. Marcelo Wood, UCI MIND faculty member and chair of neurobiology and behavior, and his team have discovered a way to help old and damaged brains form long-term memories by unlocking a repressed gene. Wood presented the findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference earlier this month.  Next, Wood's team plans to investigate how these findings apply to people with Alzheimer's disease to formulate ideas for drug development. READ MORE FROM THE DAILY PILOT >

UCI MIND faculty investigator, Dr. Claudia Kawas, presented findings from The 90+ Study at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference this past weekend, highlighting the link between moderate alcohol consumption and longevity. In an observational study of participants age 90 and older, Dr. Kawas and her team found that consuming about two glasses of beer or wine daily was associated with 18% reduced risk of premature death. Findings also suggest regular exercise, social and cognitive engagement, and a few extra pounds in older age are associated with longevity. To learn more about The 90+ Study, click HERE or contact 949.768.3635 or study90@uci.edu.…

Bill Gates with father, Bill Gates Sr. Charitable billionaire Bill Gates recently announced a $100 million pledge to fight Alzheimer's disease, but today he reveals why the disease hits close to home. His father, 92 year-old Bill Gates Sr., is one of the 5.5 million people in the United States with Alzheimer's disease. Click here to read the article and watch his interview with Maria Shriver at TODAY.com >

Honoree Maria Shriver with donor and Alzheimer’s research participant Ann Quilter of Laguna Beach, center, and Aimee Pierce, MD, medical director of the UCI MIND Memory Assessment Research Center. (Photo by Stan Sholik) By B.W. Cook January 16, 2018 Daily Pilot Opinion "At appropriate times past, I have broken my strict rule not to interject my personal life stories into this column. With that said, anything to do with the pursuit of an Alzheimer's disease cure and/or care compels me to share private family experience. Alzheimer's devastated my talented, intelligent mother at the early age of 65 and it ripped…

New research partnership aims to better understand the Alzheimer's gender divide By Madeline Vann, Caring.com Health Writer "One of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease you may not have heard of? Being a woman. More women than men live with Alzheimer’s, a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, behavior and thinking. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, women make up two thirds of the roughly 5.5 million Americans living with the disease, but experts do not yet understand why. Now, the University of California at Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) and Maria Shriver’s…

UCI MIND Co-Directors, Drs. Joshua Grill and Frank LaFerla with Maria Shriver at the annual UCI MIND gala on December 2, 2017 at the Balboa Bay Resort More than 5.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Two-thirds of them are women. The initiative will fund critical new women-based research. ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., (December 5, 2017) — A new partnership in Orange County, California is seeking answers to an essential question affecting global health: Why do more women get Alzheimer’s disease than men? UCI MIND, the University of California at Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, has announced a new research initiative…

The National Institute on Aging has announced funding of a new clinical trial network, charged with testing the most promising potential treatments and preventions for Alzheimer’s disease over the coming years. The $70 million grant includes UCI MIND as a clinical trial site and Dr. Joshua Grill as a unit leader. Press release >

In a study published today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, UCI MIND faculty members Drs. Claudia Kawas and Maria Corrada, and colleagues at UCLA, reported the first estimates of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) prevalence in the United States. According to the study, 2.4 million Americans are living with MCI due to AD (memory and other cognitive problems that do not meet criteria for dementia), and this number is expected to more than double by 2060. Moreover, the researchers estimated about 47 million Americans have preclinical AD, the presence of amyloid accumulation and/or neurodegeneration with no symptoms of memory…

In this issue of MIND Matters: New grants awarded for cutting-edge science Interview with research participant, Jerry Leth Philanthropist highlight, Steve O'Leary Maria Shriver, celebrity honoree for 8th annual A December to Remember gala Donations to UCI MIND, September 2016 to September 2017 Read more here >

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, Bill Gates, blogs on why he has decided to invest in Alzheimer's disease research. He notes, "What I’ve heard from researchers, academics, funders, and industry experts makes me hopeful that we can substantially alter the course of Alzheimer’s if we make progress in five areas: We need to better understand how Alzheimer’s unfolds. We need to detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s earlier. We need more approaches to stopping the disease. We need to make it easier to get people enrolled in clinical trials. We need to use data better." Read more about Gates' commitment to Alzheimer's disease…

(from left) Andrea Wasserman, Frank LaFerla, David Baglietto-Vargas, Grant MacGregor, Ali Mortazavi, Kim Green, Andrea Tenner UCI MIND co-director Frank LaFerla and Drs. Andrea Tenner, Kim Green, Grant MacGregor, Marcelo Wood, and David Baglietto-Vargas were awarded an $11.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create the next generation of mouse models to study Alzheimer’s disease. The news released by UCI on October 9 continues to draw local media attention, featured in the LA Times/Daily Pilot and Newport Beach Patch this morning. UCI MIND is already home to the discovery of the first ever mouse model to develop…

Drs. Frank LaFerla and Andrea Tenner will lead a new NIA-funded project to humanize mouse genes for research into Alzheimer's disease.  “The new mouse will more accurately mimic human Alzheimer’s conditions, enabling superior testing of therapies designed to slow or prevent the disease,” said Dr. LaFerla, Co-Director of UCI MIND...read more >

Marsha and Lionel Grove met in high school and have been married for over 50 years. Marsha graduated from UCLA and worked as a clinical laboratory scientist. Lionel is a USC alumnus and aerospace engineer. They now both participate in multiple studies at UCI MIND. What motivated you to participate in research at UCI MIND? Marsha: Our families are surrounded by Alzheimer’s disease. My sister and my mother both died with Alzheimer’s disease and Lionel has it in his family as well. We’ve experienced it first hand, so we want a cure to be found because we know just how…

Frank LaFerla, PhD, Co-Director of UCI MIND, Dean of the UCI School of Biological Sciences Today, UCI announced a transformative gift of $200 million to create the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences (press release).  The gift is the largest in the history of the university and will launch and will launch a major integrative health initiative that will ultimately benefit all members of the Orange County community and the world. You may be wondering what is integrative medicine?  In the simplest terms, it is an approach that focuses healthcare on the whole person and the whole community, using…

Co-director, Dr. Joshua Grill, discusses research based strategies for maintaining brain health with Healthline.com. Click here to read the full article >

Photo provided by the Alzheimer's Association Dr. Lindsay Hohsfield, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Kim Green, was awarded first prize in the Basic and Translational Science Poster Competition at the 2017 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London. Her work demonstrates the critical role of microglia (immune cells of the brain) in Alzheimer's disease pathology. UCI MIND congratulates Dr. Hohsfield on this important accomplishment! Click the video to learn more about Dr. Hohsfield's presentation at AAIC.

UCI MIND congratulates Dr. Claudia Kawas, recipient of the Alzheimer's Association International Conference Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Kawas was honored at the 2017 conference in London for her lifetime commitment and contributions to the field of Alzheimer's disease research. Press release > Photo provided by the Alzheimer's Association

Co-Director Dr. Joshua Grill and his colleague from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Jason Karlawish, wrote an article for Forbes regarding the role companies must take to fight Alzheimer's in our country. "More than 5,000,000 Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. The cost of their care exceeds $250 billion annually, making this disease more costly than heart disease or cancer. Corporations are incurring costs as well. Adult child caregivers are likely to be working full-time, and therefore they must sacrifice substantial earning potential at precisely the time in life when savings are essential to providing for other dependents, retirement, and…

The final 2 days of AAIC 2017 were informative and collaborative for UCI MIND researchers. Day 4 included poster presentations by Chelsea Cox and Dr. Ahmad Sajjadi, and Day 5 featured a lecture by Dr. Andrea Tenner on the biology of complement risk genes in Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, Dr. Lindsay Hohsfield was awarded first place in the postdoctoral poster competition held earlier in the week. We congratulate Lindsay on this accomplishment and all our investigators who shared their cutting-edge work at AAIC this year! In the news, Dr. Gil Rabinovici from the UCSF ADRC presented initial results from the IDEAS…

Co-Director, Dr. Joshua Grill, discusses important discoveries in biomarker testing (video).Dr. Liz Spangenberg presents her research in Dr. Kim Green's lab on the role of the brain's immune cells, microglia, in the regulation of amyloid beta in Alzheimer's disease (photo).

An important presentation by UCI MIND’s Dr. Maria Corrada, delivered on July 16 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London, has generated substantial media attention. The presentation discussed results of a joint study between UCI and Kaiser Permanente researchers, which demonstrated that the increased risk for dementia among African Americans compared to whites known to occur in “younger old ages” persists in people in their 90’s.To read more about this and other work presented at the conference on the risk for dementia among African Americans, click here.

Day 1 of the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London has been productive for UCI MIND researchers! Dr. Claudia Kawas was honored for her dedication and contributions to the field with the esteemed Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Maria Corrada presented on the racial and ethnic disparities of dementia in people 90 years and older, Dr. Lindsay Hohsfield was selected to participate in a highly competitive postdoctoral poster competition, and Dr. David Baglietto Vargasshared his discovery of the first sporadic Alzheimer's disease mouse model to develop human amyloid beta, which will allow researchers to more effectively investigate disease pathology…

UCI MIND faculty member, Dr. Ruth Benca, and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, published a paper in Neurology yesterday on the link between sleep quality and risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. The study included 101 cognitively healthy older adults believed to be at an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease based on self-reported family history or presence of the APOE e4 risk gene. Participants answered questions about their sleep quality and underwent a lumbar puncture, or spinal tap, so that Dr. Benca and her team could analyze biological changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). What they found was…

UCI MIND Co-Director, Dr. Joshua Grill, is quoted in a recent article in the OC Register that describes Alzheimer’s Orange County and the Alzheimer’s Association Orange County Chapter. UCI MIND is proud to work with both community partners. Read the full article here>

Drs. Dan Cooper, Director of UCI ICTS, Howard Federoff, Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs, and Frank LaFerla and Joshua Grill, Co-Directors of UCI MIND, write letter to the editor re: “O.C. doctor helps halt Alzheimer’s progression”  >

The medications may help a bit with thinking and memory, but the results vary among patients, and may not be that big, says Dr. Claudia Kawas, a neurologist at UC Irvine. Still, they can make a difference. If family members start noticing that a person remembers conversations better, she’d call that a “great” result. read more>

      “We show a proof-of-concept therapy where we could reverse some of the abnormalities in the blood vessel cells by treating them with a drug,” - Thompson, who is affiliated with UCI MIND and the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center

        “Stroke is a major cause of human disability and we are trying to come up with ways of giving people a larger dose of rehabilitation therapy, especially in the home, in order to reduce disability after stroke.” - Cramer