Updated 20 December 2012

This forum promotes scientific discussion on important recent publications, trends and controversies. Each discussion includes a background text, a scheduled live chat with an invited panel, and a transcript of the live chat. Use our Comments Form to submit questions and remarks by email on a live forum topic.

The views of live discussions participants do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Alzheimer Research Forum or its editors.

Upcoming Live Discussions

Ongoing Forum Discussions

Neuroinflammation—A Prelude to Alzheimer's?
Led by Irene Knuesel.
Webinar held 12 December 2012.

International Student Workshop on AD
Led by Julie Savage, Rylan Allemang-Grand, and Edward Wilson.
Webinar held 7 November 2012.

Latest γ-Secretase Substrate Involved in Synaptic Stability, Autism?
Led by Rui Peixoto and Taisuke Tomita.
Webinar held 1 November 2012.

Weeding Mendel’s Garden: Can We Hoe Dubious Genetic Associations?
Led by Rita Guerreiro.
Webinar held 31 July 2012.

“Network Epicenters” in Healthy Connectome Predict Dementia
Led by William Seeley and Ashish Raj.
Webinar held 9 April 2012.

Adding Dynamics and Nuance to Alzheimer’s Staging
Led by Gael Chételat.
Webinar held 5 January 2012.

Who Should Use the New Diagnostic Guidelines? The Debate Continues

Join the debate with your comments about the new diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease.

Evolution of AD Trials
by Paul Aisen, opening lecture at CTAD conference, 3 November 2011.

Clearing the Fog Around Aβ Oligomers
Led by Dominic Walsh.
Webinar held 13 October 2011.

Resolving Controversies on the Path to AD Therapeutics
Led by Dennis Selkoe and Eric Karran.
Webinar held 29 September 2011.

Slow Aβ Clearance Is ApoE4’s Modus Operandi in Late-Onset AD
Led by Joseph Castellano and David Holtzman.
Webinar held 7 July 2011.

Intraneuronal Aβ: Was It APP All Along?
Led by Edward B. Lee.
Webinar held 16 June 2011.

Two New Sets of Diagnostic Criteria—Which Is Right for Your Clinic?
Led by Reisa Sperling and Marilyn Albert.
Webinar held 9 June 2011.

Volunteers Help Scientists Explore Down’s, Alzheimer’s Nexus
Led by William Mobley.
Webinar held 1 June 2011.

Grasping the Shadow Force: Immune Cells in ALS
Led by Steven Perrin.
Webinar held 12 May 2011.

Reimagining Alzheimer's Disease—Time for Bright New Ideas?
Led by Karl Herrup.
Webinar held 27 April 2011.

Herpes Simplex and Alzheimer’s—Time to Think Again?
Led by Ruth Itzhaki, Elisa Porcellini, Luc Letenneur, and Richard Smeyne.
Webinar held 24 February 2011.

Stress Granules and Neurodegenerative Disease—What’s the Scoop?
Led by Ben Wolozin, Daryl Bosco, and Dorothee Dormann.
Webinar held 15 February 2011.

Focus on the Locus! (Ceruleus, That Is, in Alzheimer’s Disease)
Led by Michael Heneka and Doug Feinstein.
Webinar held 16 December 2010.

The AD8—Dementia Screen Ready for Prime Time?
Led by Jim Galvin.
Webinar held 30 November 2010.

Microdissection and Microarrays: Analyzing Selective Cell Vulnerability
Led by Eva Hedlund.
Webinar held 14 September 2010.

Untapped Resource? New Study to Boost Acceptance of CSF Analysis
Led by Kaj Blennow
Webinar held 5 August 2010.

New Models for Integrative Care of Alzheimer Disease
Led by Kenneth Kosik.
Webinar held 25 June 2010.

Treating Before Symptoms—ADCS Invites Ideas for Clinical Trials in Very Early AD
Led by Paul Aisen.
Webinar held 9 June 2010.

Together at Last, Top Five Biomarkers Model Stages of AD
Led by Clifford Jack.
Webinar held 21 January 2010.

Of Mice and Men: Bridging the Translational Disconnect in CNS Drug Discovery
Led by Hugo Geerts.
Webinar held 17 December 2009.

The Role of Insulin Resistance in Brain Aging and Dementia
Led by Suzanne Craft.
Webinar held 29 October 2009.

Seeded Aggregation and Transmissible Proteopathy—Creepy Stuff Not Just for Prions Anymore?
Led by Lary Walker, Adriano Aguzzi, Neil Cashman, and Marc Diamond. Webinar held 28 September 2009.

Betwixt and Intermixed—Dementia With Lewy Bodies
Led by Ian McKeith, Brit Mollenhauer, James Galvin, James Leverenz, and Walter Schulz-Schaeffer.
Webinar held 15 June 2009.

LOAD and eFAD—Different Diseases, Different Hypotheses?
Led by Scott Small and Karen Duff.
Webinar held 5 March 2009.
View Transcript

Can We (Should We?) Develop “Smart Drugs” to Stave Off Age-Related Memory Loss?
Led by Scott Small.
Webinar held 26 February 2009.
View Transcript

Meet New Players, Histone Deacetylase and Sirtuin—Will They Help the Cell Cycle, DNA Repair, and Gene Expression Break Into Alzheimerology’s Major League?
Led by Li-Huei Tsai, Dohoon Kim, Bruce Yankner, Karl Herrup, Bruce Lamb, Mark Mattson, Rachael Neve, and Vikram Khurana.
Webinar held 12 February 2009.
View Transcript

Calcium in AD Pathogenesis
Led by Ilya Bezprozvanny, Beth Stutzmann, Kevin Foskett, Kim Green, and Brian Bacskai and Kishore Kuchibhotla.
Webinar held 29 October 2008.
View Transcript

Leon Thal Symposium Webinar
Led by Zaven Khachaturian.
Webinar held 27 October 2008.

Early Detection of Alzheimer Disease—A Virtual Town Hall Meeting
Led by Harold Varmus.
Webinar held 9 July 2008.

Sports Concussions, Dementia, and APOE Genotyping: What Can Scientists Tell the Public? What’s Up for Research?
Led by Sam Gandy, Steven T. DeKosky, Christopher Nowinski, Norman Relkin, Ann McKee, and Daniel Perl.
Live discussion held 26 June 2008.
View Transcript

Targeting Tumor Necrosis Factor—A Therapeutic Strategy for AD
Led by Yong Shen.
Webinar/live discussion held 12 June 2008.
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Mice on Trial? Issues in the Design of Drug Studies
Led by Sean Scott.
Webinar/live discussion held 28 May 2008.
View Transcript

Non-coding RNAs in Neurodegeneration
Led by Peter T. Nelson.
Webinar/live discussion held 26 October 2007.
View Transcript

APP Family: Clues to Function in Health and AD
Led by Sanjay W. Pimplikar and Suzanne Guenette.
Live discussion held 11 October 2007.

Susceptibility Testing and Risk Assessment in Alzheimer Disease
Led by Robert C. Green.
Webinar held 15 June 2007.

The AD8: A Brief Screening Tool for Very Mild Dementia
Led by Jim Galvin.
Webinar held 30 May 2007.

Finding NIH Support for Drug Discovery and Development for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Led by Neil Buckholtz and Lorenzo Refolo.
Webinar held 9 April 2007.

Alzheimer Disease—The Fragile X Syndrome Connection
Led by Cara Westmark.
Webinar held 21 March 2007.

ADCS Prevention Instrument Project
Led by Steven Ferris, Doug Galasko, David Salmon, Mary Sano, Lon Schneider, Peter Whitehouse, and colleagues.
Webinar held 12 March 2007.

Presenilin Loss of Function—Plan B for AD?
Forum discussion led by Jie Shen and Ray Kelleher.

Collective Thought at Its Best: Let’s Contemplate the Centennial
Enjoy the offerings of this Centennial Page, and write back with your comments.

Whole Genome Study for Parkinson Disease
Led by Katrina Gwinn-Hardy.
Live discussion held 18 December 2006.

The Alzheimer Biomarker Knowledge Base
Led by Debra Revere.
Webinar held 14 December 2006.

Webinar: Axonopathy in Mouse Models of AD
Led by Thomas Bayer.
Webinar held 29 November 2006.

Webinar: The NeuronDB Knowledge Base
Led by Gordon Shepherd and Kei Cheung.
Webinar held 26 October 2006.

The Functional Roles of APP Cytoplasmic Domain—Conflicts and Consensus
Led by Sanjay Pimplikar.
Live discussion held 3 October 2006.
View Transcript

Data-mining for Medications That Affect the Incidence of Dementia
Led by Ben Wolozin.
Live discussion held 25 August 2006.

M1 Receptors Play a Central Role in AD Pathology and Cognition
Led by Frank LaFerla.
Webinar held 5 July 2006.

An Idiosyncratic View of AD Biomarkers
Led by Paul Coleman.
Webinar held 1 June 2006.

Gain or Loss of Function—Time to Shake up Assumptions on γ-Secretase in Alzheimer Disease?
Led by Peter Davies and Bart de Strooper.

Not Dead Yet: Estrogen Deserves Another Chance
Led by Sam Gandy, with John Breitner, Rena Li, Dominique Toran-Allerand, Phyllis Wise, Kristine Yaffe, and Peter Zandi.
Live discussion held 9 March 2006.
View Transcript

Cell Cycle Hypothesis Pedaling into Mainstream Acceptance? Results in Fly, Mouse Models Warrant a Second Look
Led by Vikram Khurana and Mel Feany, with Karl Herrup, Bruce Lamb, Inez Vincent, Rachael Neve, Donna McPhie, Dan Geschwind, Cathy Andorfer, and Xiongwei Zhu.
Live discussion held 1 March 2006.
View Transcript

Reducing the Risk of Alzheimer Disease
Led by John Trojanowski, with Deborah Blacker, Greg Cole, Carl Cotman, Suzanne de la Monte, Sally Frautschy, Lew Kuller, Mark Mattson, Dave Morgan, David Sinclair, and Sam Sisodia.
Live discussion held 3 January 2006.
View Transcript

Messing with the Membrane—An Alternative Interpretation of the Amyloid-β Hypothesis
Forum discussion led by Vincent Marchesi.

The Pathogen Hypothesis—Challenging the Primacy of Genetics in Late-Onset Alzheimer Disease.
Forum discussion led by Brian Balin.

Are Glia Active Participants in Neurodegenerative Disease?
Led by Ben Barres.
Live discussion held 20 October 2005.
View Transcript

Could a New Down Syndrome Mouse Model Also Be Useful for Alzheimer Research?
Led by Lizzy Fisher and Victor Tybulewicz.
Live discussion held 14 October 2005.
View Transcript

Lost in Translation? Charting the Course in Preclinical Therapeutic Development: A Panel Discussion
Led by Howard Fillit, Jordan Tang, Frank Longo, Eli Michaelis, and Jens Eckstein.
Live discussion held 16 September 2005.
View Transcript

Ceramide and Cholesterol: Possible Connections Between Normal Aging of the Brain and Alzheimer’s Disease
Led by Luigi Puglielli.
Live discussion held 7 September 2005.
View Transcript

Insulin Resistance: A Common Axis Linking Alzheimer's, Depression and Metabolism?
Led by Natalie Rasgon.
Live discussion held 6 July 2005.
View Transcript

100 Questions and Answers About Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Tom Wisniewski and Marcin Sadowski.
Live discussion held 1 July 2005.
View Transcript

Differential Neuronal Vulnerability
Led by Vikram Khurana and Ole Isacson.
Live discussion held 29 June 2005.
View Transcript

Now You See Them, Now You Don't: The Amyloid Channel Hypothesis
Led by Bruce Kagan.
Live discussion held 16 June 2005.
View Transcript

Making a BioMark on Alzheimer Disease
Led by John Trojanowski, Les Shaw, and Anne Fagan.
Live discussion held 1 June 2005.
View Transcript

Imaging in Alzheimer's Disease: The Current State of Affairs
Led by Chet Mathis and Bill Klunk, with Julie Price, Cliff Jack, and Eric Reiman.
Live discussion held 27 April 2005.
View Transcript

What Price Privacy? Is the HIPAA Law Stifling Dementia Research?
Led by Margaret Doris.
Live discussion held 24 April 2005.

Is Alzheimer's a Type 3 Diabetes?
Led by Suzanne de la Monte.
Live discussion held 25 March 2005.
View Transcript

Caloric Restriction: Eat Less, Live Longer!
Led by Mark Mattson.
Live discussion held 25 March 2005.

Role and Control of Metal-Mediated Fibril Toxicity
Led by David Allsop and Ashley Bush, with co-moderator Dominic Walsh.
Live discussion held 20 December 2004.
View Transcript

Memantine: Implications for Treating Alzheimer's
Led by Steven T. DeKosky and Bengt Winblad.
Live discussion held 29 September 2004.
View Transcript

A "Mitochondrial Cascade Hypothesis" for Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Russell H. Swerdlow and Shaharyar Khan.
Live discussion held 24 September 2004.
View Transcript

Cell Death: Time to Push It Out of the Doldrums
Forum discussion led by Yong Shen.
Live discussion held 10 September 2004.

Cast Call for Players: Healthy Aging Through Lean Living
Led by Leigh Ann Henricksen and Howard J. Federoff.
Live discussion held 17 August 2004.
View Transcript

The Pathogen Hypothesis
Led by June Kinoshita, with Brian Balin, Denah Appelt, Joseph Lyons, Ruth Itzhaki, and Curtis Dobson.
Live discussion held 1 July 2004.
View Transcript

Protein Misfolding: An Unfolding Series of Discussions
Led by Dominic Walsh.
Live discussion held 9 June 2004.
View Transcript

Androgens, ApoE, and Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Jacob Raber. Produced in collaboration with SAGE KE.
Transcript unavailable.
Live discussion held 7 May 2004.

Vascular Factors in Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Jack de la Torre, David Bennett, and Julie Schneider.
Live discussion held 21 April 2004.
View Transcript

Stem Cell Therapies for Neurodegenerative Disease: How Should We Push Ahead?
Led by Mahendra Rao, with co-moderator George Martin.
Live discussion held 30 March 2004.
View Transcript

Minority Views and Professional Responsibilities—Scientists Air Their Views
Led by George Perry.
Transcript unavailable.
Live discussion held 10 March 2004.

Clioquinol Trial Postmortem: Does Blocking Metal-Aβ Interactions Work?
Led by Ashley Bush.
Live discussion held 15 January 2004.
View Transcript

Novel Substrates for BACE1 Beg the Question: What's the Biological Function of β-Secretase?
Led by Stefan Lichtenthaler.
Live discussion held 17 December 2003.
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Is Alzheimer's an Autoimmune Disease?
Led by Michael R. D'Andrea.
Live discussion held 4 December 2003.
View Transcript

BDNF and Alzheimer's Disease—What's the Connection?
Led by Nicole C. Berchtold and Carl W. Cotman.
Live discussion held 25 November 2003.
View Transcript

Alzheimer's: A Triple Whammy. Why are So Many Neurodegenerative Diseases Single, Double, or Triple Amyloidoses?
Led by John Q. Trojanowski and Mark P. Mattson.
Live discussion held 22 October 2003.
View Transcript

Therapeutic Nihilism: Widespread Yet Passé? AD Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors Are Better Than Their Reputation
Led by John C. Morris, Murray Raskind, and Martin Farlow.
Live discussion held 14 October 2003.
View Transcript

Are Neurons Just Too Laissez-Faire about Repair?
Led by Thierry Nouspikel. Moderated by Rachael Neve.
Live discussion held 14 July 2003.
View Transcript

How Does Excess Aβ Leave the Brain, How Does It Get In, And Can We Trap It Outside?
Led by Berislav Zlokovic.
Live discussion held 23 June 2003.
View Transcript

Axonal Transport Hypothesis Moves On to Implicate Presenilin
Led by Jorge Busciglio and Scott Brady.
Live discussion held 17 June 2003.
View Transcript

Cholinergic Plasticity in Hippocampus of Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment: Correlation with Alzheimer's Neuropathology
Led by Glenda Bishop, with Steven T. DeKosky and Milos Ikonomovic.
Live discussion held 19 May 2003.
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Protein Folding and Neurodegeneration: Biophysics to the Rescue?
Led by David Teplow.
Live discussion held 30 April 2003.
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RNAi in Neurodegenerative Diseases—What's the Therapeutic Potential?
Led by Zuoshang Xu.
Live discussion held 18 March 2003.
View Transcript

CAA: We All Know It's There, But Just What Is It Doing in Alzheimer's?
Led by Steven Greenberg and Mathias Jucker.
Transcript unavailable.
Live discussion held 12 March 2003.

Probing PPARγ? Agonists: Could Diabetes Drugs Treat Alzheimer's Disease?
Led by Elena Galea and Douglas Feinstein.
Live discussion held 16 December 2002.
View Transcript

Intraneuronal Aβ Accumulation—More Evidence, Less Controversy?
Led by Gunnar Gouras.
Live discussion held 26 November 2002.
View Transcript

Cholesterol and Alzheimer's—Charging Fast But Still at a Distance from Solid Answers
Led by Tobias Hartmann.
Live discussion held 19 November 2002.
View Transcript

Will Probing Flies and Worms Bear Fruit in the Search for New Genes Involved in Alzheimer's?
Led by Mel Feany.
Live discussion held 29 October 2002.
View Transcript

How the Other Half Lives—Or the What, How, and Where of the AβPP Intracellular Domain
Led by Frank LaFerla.
Live discussion held 20 September 2002.
View Transcript

β Amyloid Degradation: The Forgotten Half of Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Malcolm Leissring and Wesley Farris.
Live discussion held 12 September 2002.
View Transcript

The Cell Cycle and Alzheimer’s Disease—Let's Unite for Division!
Led by Inez Vincent.
Live discussion held 7 August 2002.
View Transcript

From Here to There: AβPP as an Axonal Transport Receptor—How Could This Explain Neurodegeneration in AD?
Led by Larry Goldstein.
Live discussion held 15 July 2002.
View Transcript

Alzheimer Genes in Cortical Development: How Do Their Prenatal Functions Relate to Dementia?
Led by Jie Shen.
Live discussion held 12 July 2002.
View Transcript

Neural Stem Cells to the Rescue—Can Neuroreplacement Ever Become a Treatment for Alzheimer's?
Led by Kiminobu Sugaya.
Live discussion held 9 July 2002.
View Transcript

Vascular Disease, Parkinson's, and Now Alzheimer's—Is Homocysteine the New All-Around Bad Guy?
Led by Mark Mattson.
Live discussion held 30 April 2002.
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Cerebrometabolic Deficiency in Alzheimer's Disease
Led by John P. Blass and Gary Gibson.
Live discussion held 15 April 2002.
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The Neuroplasticity Theory of Alzheimer's Disease
Led by J. Wesson Ashford.
Live discussion held 8 April 2002.
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Alzheimer Immunotherapy Trial Grounded: Time to Reassess Safety and Vaccine Design
Led by Giulio Maria Pasinetti.
Live discussion held 5 March 2002.
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From Epidemiology to Therapeutic Trials with Anti-inflammatory Drugs in Alzheimer's Disease: The Role of NSAIDs and Cyclooxygenase on Beta-amyloidosis and Clinical Dementia
Led by Giulio Maria Pasinetti.
Live discussion held 20 February 2002.
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Hemochromatosis as a Factor in AD
Led by Liz Milward.
Transcript unavailable.
Live discussion held 22 January 2002.

Picking up the Pieces of Parkin
Led by Benjamin Wolozin.
Live discussion held 17 January 2002.
View Transcript

The Role of ApoE in Alzheimer's Disease: An Alternative View
Led by Keith Crutcher.
Live discussion held 11 December 2001.
View Transcript

Gonadal Hormone Withdrawal, Apoptosis, and Generation of Beta Amyloid Peptide: A Vicious Cycle of Amyloidogenesis and Neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Sam Gandy.
Live discussion held 5 December 2001.
View Transcript

Calcium Signaling Deficit in the Origin of Alzheimer's Disease
Background text prepared by Ming Chen.
Discussion postponed until further notice.

Nomenclature Discussion
Led by George Perry and Mark A. Smith.
Live discussion held 14 August 2001.
View Transcript

New Theories of Presenilin Function
Led by Chris Weihl.
Live discussion held 12 December 2000.
View Transcript

Generation of an Apoptotic Intracellular Peptide by γ-secretase Cleavage of Alzheimer's β-amyloid Precursor Protein
Led by Benjamin Wolozin, with Luciano D'Adamio and Eddie Koo.
Live discussion held 20 September 2000.
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Intracellular Aβ in Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Gunnar Gouras.
Live discussion held 16 May 2000.
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Protofibrillar Aβ in Alzheimer's Disease
Led by Dennis Selkoe, Dean Hartley, and William Klein.
Live discussion held 17 February 2000.
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Beta-Catenin and PS1
Led by Chris Weihl, with Bruce Yankner, Benjamin Wolozin, Eddie Koo, and Kenneth Kosik.
Live discussion held 13 August 1999.
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Pin1, Tau and the Cell Cycle in Alzheimer Disease
Led by June Kinoshita, with Peter Davies.
Live discussion held 3 August 1999.
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In Search of γ-Secretase
Led by Peter Nelson, with Dennis Selkoe, John Hardy, and Alain Israel.
Live discussion held 5 May 1999.
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Apoptosis in Alzheimer Disease
Led by Paul Coleman, with Carl Cotman, Mark A. Smith, and George Perry.
Live discussion held 24 March 1999.
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Frameshift Mutants of β Amyloid Precursor Protein and Ubiquitin-B in Alzheimer's and Down's Syndrome Patients
Led by Chris Weihl.
Live discussion held 28 May 1999.
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Alzheimer's Disease: A Re-examination of the Amyloid Hypothesis
Led by Peter Nelson.
Live discussion held 26 March 1998.
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Alzheimer Presenilins in the Nuclear Membrane, Interphase Kinetochores, and Centrosomes Suggest a Role in Chromosome Segregation
Led by Marc Paradis.
Live discussion held 20 March 1998.
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Isolation of Single Immunohistochemically Identified Whole Neuronal Cell Bodies from Post-Mortem Human Brain for Simultaneous Anlaysis of Multiple Gene Expression
Led by Peter T. Nelson.
Live discussion held 27 February 1998.
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Deficiency of Presenilin 1 Inhibits the Normal Cleavage of the Transmembrane Domain of Amyloid Precursor Protein
Led by Deborah Watson and Kenneth Kosik.
Live discussion held 30 January 1998.
View Transcript