2003 Paul Beeson Career Award in Aging Research winner Reisa Sperling, MD, recently received the largest grant ever given by the Alzheimer’s Association (http://www.alz.org/), $8 million, to expand research on the development and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, called A4, will “follow 1,000 adults, aged 65 to 85, who have abnormal proteins, known as amyloid plaques, revealed by brain scans, and who are exhibiting subtle cognitive problems that are typically reported in people years before they are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.” Half of the patients will receive a potentially beneficial drug which blocks amyloid proteins from building up on the brain, while the other half will receive a placebo. To learn more about the study and its potential outcomes, read the March 7, 2014 story in the Boston Globe.
Dr. Sperling is the Director of the Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment and a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. To date, AFAR has awarded over $21.2 million to 216 scientists researching Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias across the country. Learn more about our New Investigators Award in Alzheimer’s disease here and the MetLife Foundation Medical Research Awards for Alzheimer’s disease here.
