Kevin Beier, PhD, Assistant Professor, Physiology & Biophysics School of Medicine
Drs. Kevin Beier and Elizabeth Head, both faculty members of UCI MIND, along with co-investigators Drs. Liz Chrastil and Jing Zhang have been awarded a 4 year NIH grant to study how hyperexcitability in neurons in a unique brain region (the retrospenial cortex thought to be a candidate site where AD pathology begins) contributes to the development of behavioral deficits in 3 mouse models of AD and what the molecular mechanisms are that underlie this effect. To translate their results to AD in people, they will assess the molecular changes that occur in the human retrosplenial cortex from brain donors in the ADRC to identify similarities. This study will provide support for a critical role that RSC hyperexcitability plays in AD progression, and a mechanistic framework for how changes in intrinsic excitability and synaptic function contribute to the development of AD. We hope that novel insights will be gained that may lead to future targets to promote healthy brain aging. To learn more about Dr. Beier’s lab, visit his website (https://beierlab.com/) or Dr. Head’s lab at (https://sites.mind.uci.edu/headlab/).
Elizabeth Head, MA, PhD, Dean’s Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Neurology
