RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-18 Research News A Phase 3 trial of pimavanserin was halted early when the study met its primary endpoint of delaying relapse to psychosis in people with dementia, according to a press release by its sponsor, Acadia Pharmaceuticals. Pimavanserin —a selectiv
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-14 Research News New research adds to the evidence that ApoE regulates microglial health and activity. Researchers led by Tarja Malm at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, examined how several Alzheimer’s risk factors affect microglia generated from h
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-13 Research News Marking the fall of the only remaining BACE inhibitor currently being tested for AD, Biogen and Eisai announced today the discontinuation of two Phase 3 studies of elenbecestat in people with mild cognitive impairment and mild AD. The compa
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-13 Research News In a second Phase 2 strikeout, the small-molecule drug ladostigil missed its primary endpoint of curbing progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD, though people on a low-dose regimen did have less brain shrinkage over three years tha
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-13 Research News The humble locus coeruleus, a minute speck of tissue nestled deep in the brain stem, has received relatively scant attention in studies of cognitive decline. Now, data published September 9 in Nature Human Behavior add to a recent spate of f
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-11 Research News Mitochondria may be the universal powerhouses of eukaryotic cells, but there is more to these organelles than just ATP production. According to a paper in the September 9 Nature Neuroscience, mouse mitochondria express distinct subsets of pr
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-07 Research News Traumatic brain injuries trigger tau pathology and raise the risk of developing dementia later in life. Could tau PET tracers help researchers pick out those on the path to neurodegeneration? Yes, according to a paper in the September 4 Scie
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2019-09-07 Conference Coverage Researchers have linked dozens of genetic loci to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and found dozens more that cause familial forms of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. Teasing out how each contributes to pathology has proven a lit
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-06 Research News Two papers in the September 2 Nature Cell Biology present complementary evidence that tau condenses into a patchwork of rafts that coat microtubules. These patches share some properties with phase-separated liquid droplets of tau that have b
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-09-04 Research News Are microglia the masterminds of amyloid plaque formation? In the August 21 Nature Communications, researchers led by Kim Green at the University of California, Irvine, suggest these cells seed amyloid deposits. In a mouse model of amyloidos
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2019-08-30 Conference Coverage Replicating existing paper-and-pencil tests on tablets or smartphones is one thing (Part 13 of this series), but what about taking technology itself to the next level? What are the prospects for continuously collecting information on p
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2019-08-30 Conference Coverage The past decade has seen increasing use of technology in dementia research. Computer games that provide cognitive training have become part of prevention studies, and trialists are working to move cognitive testing out of the clinic an
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-08-29 Research News CAG trinucleotide repeat expansions in the ataxin-1 gene cause spinocerebellar ataxia type 1, a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Curiously, variants of this same gene, sans trinucleotide repeat expansions, associate with risk for Alzheimer’s
RESEARCH NEWS 2019-08-29 Research News Certain mutations in TREM2 strongly increase risk for late-onset Alzheimer’s. Could tweaking the function of this microglial receptor help people with the disease? A new study suggests as much. In the August 28 Science Translational Medicine