CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-26 Conference Coverage Springing a leak is rarely good news, but when microglial mitochondria start oozing, it can be particularly bad in situations of tauopathy. So conclude scientists led by Li Gan and Sadaf Amin, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, in the A
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-25 Conference Coverage New data presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, held March 28 to April 1 in Gothenburg, Sweden, further reinforced the field's growing recognition that microglia respond in myriad ways t
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-25 Conference Coverage The scientific diet at this year’s International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, March 28 to April 1 in Gothenburg, was especially rich in news about the ins and outs of the microglial “gastrointestinal tract,” aka
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-21 Conference Coverage Anti-amyloid immunotherapy has reached a milestone with the approval of two antibodies for clinical use; alas, the race is far from over. At the International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, held March 28 to April 1
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-21 Conference Coverage Seed amplification assays, those PCR-like reactions for toxic misfolded proteins, are starting to look pretty good. In the May Lancet Neurology, scientists led by Andrew Siderowf, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Luis Conc
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-20 Conference Coverage Retroviruses lurking in the human genome aren’t the only potential troublemakers in neurodegenerative diseases (see Part 5 of this series). Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) integrates into the genome of trigeminal ganglia nerves, c
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-18 Conference Coverage Signaling through the CD33 receptor counteracts the known beneficial microglial responses to plaques, while clusterin is thought to promote Aβ aggregation. Up until now, these two AD risk factors were thought to be going about their ne
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-18 Conference Coverage Since the discovery of rare, yet potent risk variants in the TREM2 gene 11 years ago, the microglial receptor has emerged as a pivot point in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Findings presented at the International Conference o
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-14 Conference Coverage With two plaque-clearing anti-amyloid antibodies now approved for clinical use, Alzheimer’s researchers are digging deeper into how banishing amyloid affects the brain. At AD/PD 2023, held March 28 to April 1 in Gothenburg, Sweden, sci
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-14 Conference Coverage Even though there were no big revelations from immunotherapy trials at this year’s International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, held March 28 to April 1 in Gothenburg, Sweden, new data from several programs deepene
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-14 Conference Coverage Epidemiological evidence has linked infection with viruses, such as influenza and herpes, to higher odds of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases (Feb 2023 news). How might these microbes contribute to neurodegeneration? Perhaps by s
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-13 Conference Coverage Here’s a radical idea. Perivascular macrophages—those innate immune cells sitting oh-so-innocently on the small blood vessels in our brains—might be why ApoE4 carriers are more susceptible to cerebrovascular disease. So said Costantino
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-09 Conference Coverage For almost 10 years, scientists around the world have been using cell-based fluorescent sensors to study the protofibrils that spawn neurofibrillary tangles in tauopathies. Some have claimed the tau chimeras seeded in these cells canno
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2023-04-07 Conference Coverage With amyloid-lowering treatments in hand, the field's next wish is for a way to clean up tau tangles, the pathological hallmark that correlates more closely with cognitive decline. So far, tau antibodies and aggregation inhibitors