(NAPSI)—Scientists are contemplating important questions about health,
mind and age: Could your blood hold the molecular secrets to a fountain of
youth, preventing age-related brain disorders? Are brain aging and Alzheimer’s
disease caused by a failure of interconnected systems, triggering a dominolike cascade of disease? Can targeting the red
blood cells and blood vessels jointly keep your brain healthy and prevent
dementia?
The Problem
As people live longer, Alzheimer’s and other age-related dementias are on
the rise, projected to reach more than 75 million people worldwide by 2030.
To date, no effective therapy has been developed for these disorders, which
are not only deadly but exact a high financial and emotional toll on society.
The Research
To find solutions, three large-scale research teams are exploring those
questions as part of an initiative to merge research of the brain and the
blood vessels to develop new understanding of—and, ultimately, better
preventions and treatments for—age-related brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s
disease.
The Scientists
To help, American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary
organization focused on heart and brain health, and The Paul G. Allen
Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, launched the $43 million
research project to bridge the science of vascular and brain health through
revolutionary, out-of-the-box thinking. Additional supporters include the
Oskar Fischer Project and the Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation.
The three teams, headquartered at the Salk Institute for Biological
Studies in La Jolla, Calif.; Stanford University School of Medicine in
Stanford, Calif.; and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in
Cleveland, OH, respectively, work to develop new solutions to the urgent
problem of age-related cognitive decline. The researchers are:
• “Rusty” Gage, Ph.D., a neuroscience researcher and president of Salk,
who will lead an eight-year project looking into new targets for therapeutic
research and biomarkers of early-stage cognitive decline.
• Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D., a professor of
neurology at Stanford, who will lead a four-year project studying how changes
in the immune system affect cognitive health.
• Mukesh K. Jain, M.D., a cardiologist at University
Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Case Western
Reserve University, who will lead a team of investigators on a four-year
project investigating whether targeting red blood cells and blood vessels can
prevent dementia.
The Hope
The research could yield transformational discoveries to better detect,
treat and prevent cognitive decline.
“The world’s leading
voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health, American Heart
Association, and Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group launch research to bridge the
science of vascular and brain health through revolutionary, out-of-the-box
thinking. http://bit.ly/2M8bIGs”
On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)