CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2020-02-07 Conference Coverage Part 1 of a 2-part story. A PET tracer that lights up synapses is able to detect a loss of connectivity across the Alzheimer’s brain, according to new research presented at the Human Amyloid Imaging conference, held January 15–17 in Mi
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-02-07 Research News ApoE4’s rap sheet just grew longer. Not only does ApoE’s notorious allele accelerate Aβ and tau pathology, it also drives the toxic aggregation of α-synuclein, according to two studies published February 5 in Science Translational Medicine.
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-02-06 Research News Like Aβ oligomers, soluble aggregates of tau and α-synuclein bind to cellular prion protein, poisoning neurons, according to a study published in Acta Neuropathologica. Using a standardized procedure to produce soluble aggregates of these th
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-02-05 Research News The few people who carry two copies of the ApoE2 allele are blessed with remarkable protection against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published February 3 in Nature Communications. While the E2 allele has long been known to hedge
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-31 Research News One in 10 people with Parkinson’s start noticing signs of the disease between the ages of 20 and 50. Most have no family history, and few carry known autosomal-dominant PD mutations. Can induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) modeling help sci
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-31 Research News Soccer players who repeatedly bonk their noggins against the ball have losses in episodic memory. The losses are subtle and likely unnoticeable. This subclinical effect is strongest in ApoE4 carriers, according to a study published January 2
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-30 Research News Constipated endosomes are a hallmark of degenerating neurons in people with AD. Scientists blame crumbling retromers, complexes that normally flush proteins out of these little organelles. A study published January 22 in Molecular Neurodegen
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-30 Research News A new study reveals a sticky web of protein-protein interactions, centered on heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) and other chaperones, in the brains of people with AD. This network, not found in healthy tissue, appears to entangle a host of prote
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-28 Research News Thousands of first responders who cleaned up the wreckage of the World Trade Center site developed long-term health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, respiratory diseases, and cancer. Now, emerging evidence suggests their work
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-24 Research News The idea that tau pathology creeps through the brain via neural circuitry may have gained its strongest support yet from a study published January 17 in Nature Communications. Drawing on longitudinal tau PET imaging data from ADNI and BIOFIN
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-24 Research News Vitamin B12 is a commonly used supplement and has been tested as a preventive treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, but could too much of it be bad for you? In the January 3 JAMA Network Open, scientists led by Jose Flores-Guerrero and Stephan
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-23 Research News In 2018, researchers created a stir with a multi-network analysis of postmortem tissue that suggested viruses—particularly human herpes—might disrupt molecular pathways in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Now, researchers led by S
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-23 Research News Aβ oligomers may set off tau phosphorylation by hijacking the adrenergic system, according to a study published January 15 in Science Translational Medicine. Researchers led by Qin Wang at the University of Alabama in Birmingham reported tha
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-21 Research News In the January 20 Nature Neuroscience, researchers led by Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, identify a microglial subtype that accumulates cytoplasmic lipid droplets. These fatty microglia show up in the aging hi
RESEARCH NEWS 2020-01-17 Research News Transgenic mice fail to capture many aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, and a new transcriptional study lays bare one reason. Brain cells in the two species, it turns out, respond quite differently to amyloidosis. In the January 13 Nature Medic