2014

The New Investigator Awards in Alzheimer's Disease


Michal Arbel, PhD

Instructor In Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Impaired drainage of solutes from the brain as a common mechanism of brain aging and amyloid deposition in Cerebral amyloid angi

The accumulation of the naturally occurring biological molecule, amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide, in the brain is considered one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Accumulation of this peptide in the brain, called cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), is a common cause of brain hemorrhage and is found in most patients with AD as well as in 10-40% of older adults. The causes of both the most common form of AD and CAA is not clear but is most likely the result of improper clearance of Aβ peptide from the brain. It is likely that damage to brain vasculature may worsen this process and thus further contribute to disease onset and progression. Using a novel way to visualize the clearance of fluids that surround cells, called interstitial fluids(ISF), Dr. Arbel’s group has determined the how ISF is cleared. Dr. Arbel is proposing to measure ISF clearance during normal aging and the development of amyloid pathology which will increase our understanding of normal brain function and clarify the contribution ISF drainage to the causes of AD and CAA.

More 2014 Recipients of this Grant

Joshua Shulman, MD, PhD

CD2AP and the integration of synaptic structure with function in brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease

Catherine Kaczorowski, PhD

Systems Genetics of Cognitive Aging: The Use of the BXD Murine Reference Panel to Identify the Genetic Modifiers of Memory Funct

Roberto Fernandez-Romero, MD, MPH, PhD

Mechanisms of Impaired Navigation in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease