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Top Neuroscientists Gather at Imaging Conference on the Aging Brain

Nobel laureate Eric Kandel joined leading neuroscientists and industry experts to speak at the Imaging and the Aging Brain conference, sponsored by AFAR and the New York Academy of Sciences and held at NYU's Kimmel Center on May 16 and 17, 2006.

Conference presentations focused on recent technological advances in brain imaging and how it is transforming the way researchers understand normal and pathologic aging processes.

Dr. Kandel presented the keynote address about the biology of memory and age-related memory loss; how we learn, how we form memories, how we store them and how we retrieve them.

Other featured presenters included:

Wendy Suzuki, PhD, Associate Professor, Neural Science, New York University, presented research about memory signals in the macaque monkey medial temporal lobe. Her research looks into how new memories are formed in the brain and how memory is impaired through aging.

Scott Small, MD, the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor in Neurology at Columbia University, presented data on imaging studies in the hippocampal areas of humans, monkeys and mice. The hippocampus is an area of the brain that controls memory and both Alzheimer's disease and the normal aging process target the hippocampus. Dr. Small's work has helped identify the different molecular changes that distinguish AD from normal age-related decline.

Mark A. Mintun, MD, Professor of Radiology and Psychiatry, Washington University, discussed his work using a new imaging agent, Pittsburgh Compound B (PIB) to track the build-up of amyloid plaque in the brain. While it has long been known that amyloid plaque is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, scientists could not measure these plaques until after autopsy. Combining PIB with a PET-scan, Dr. Mintun and his colleagues have developed a quantitative test that has the potential to predict the onset of Alzheimer's disease many years earlier than current methods. If confirmed by ongoing studies, this method would allow early and better treatment to slow or stop the formation of these plaques. Dr. Mintun is also investigating the use of PIB as a biomarker of aging and disease.

Eric Reiman, MD, Executive Director of the Banner Alzheimer's Disease Institute at the University of Arizona, discussed brain imaging and genomics research in the study of Alzheimer's disease and aging. His work focuses on detecting and tracking the earliest brain changes in people at risk for Alzheimer's disease - in many cases decades before the onset of possible memory and thinking problems - and developing a way to identify and evaluate effective treatments to prevent it.

Complete conference information including multimedia presentations can be found at www.nyas.org/AgingBrain.

AFAR gratefully acknowledges major underwriters of this conference which include: The Alzheimer's Association, Anonymous, Elan, GE Healthcare, Institute for The Study of Aging, International Brain Research Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, National Institute on Aging/NIH, Ohio Valley Imaging Solutions, Pfizer and Sanofi-aventis.

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AFAR is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support biomedical research on aging. It is devoted to creating the knowledge that all of us need to live healthy, productive, and independent lives. Since 1981, AFAR has awarded nearly $113 million to more than 2,200 talented scientists as part of its broad-based series of grant programs. Its work has led to significant advances in our understanding of the aging process, age-related diseases, and healthy aging practices. AFAR communicates news of these innovations through its organizational web site www.afar.org and educational web sites Infoaging (www.infoaging.org) and Health Compass (www.healthcompass.org).