USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Loudoun “40 Under 40” Class of 2019 (page 27) celebrated UsAgainstAlzheimer’s own Erin Rayner for her excellent work on the VeteransAgainstAlzheimer’s Network. Quoting from her elevator speech, "VeteransAgainstAlzheimer’s is a veteran’s advocacy non-profit that’s mission is to help veterans who have experienced serviced related injuries get the help they need from the VA and education about brain health.” And about her dad as her top mentor, “He has imparted leadership and motivational wisdom, team working advice, and career progression thoughts. I can always count on him to coach and guide me.”

PATIENT AND CAREGIVER VOICES

A September 19, 2019 Time Magazine article by Arthur Kleinman, MD, drew from his personal experience as primary family-carer for his late wife, Joan, who had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He wrote about the humbling work of care, the rewards it can offer, and the idea of care as a ‘core human quality.’ “I have come to understand care through this experience as well as those that reflect my half century as a health care practitioner, educator and researcher... care and caregiving are undergoing a profound crisis, a crisis that can be understood as an early sign of a dangerous yet near universal transformation in human experience and social institutions. What is most human—our vulnerability, our decency, indeed our very souls—is under great threat."

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

According to a September 19, 2019 Medical Xpress article, researchers from Queensland Brain Institute Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research found that the enzyme dPI3K is a potential drug target to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It produces a toxic peptide in nerve cells which accumulates into plaques in the brain, and is also involved in inflammation. “We found a drug targeting this enzyme had already been used to treat leukemia—we used it to treat cells taken from mice with the disease and found that the movement of the toxic peptide inside the cells reduced… We are now keen to collaborate with other researchers to work out how to solve the issue of transporting the drug across the blood-brain barrier,” said Dr. Ramón Martínez-Mármol.

A September 18, 2019 Technology Networks article reported that neurologist Jack Jhamandas of University of Alberta and his team found two short peptides (amino acid strings) which improve memory in mice, and reduce harmful physical changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease including amyloid build-up and inflammation. According to the article, “With the short peptides identified, Jhamandas and his team, which includes renowned virologists Lorne Tyrell and Michael Houghton, used a process of computer modelling and artificial intelligence to discover a small-molecule drug--similar to medications used to treat high blood pressure or cholesterol--it's now developing.” Also covered by Medical Xpress.

EVENTS AND RESOURCES

Register for the NIH’s Geroscience Summit, a forum bringing together researchers, foundations and practitioners focused on age-related diseases. Geroscience is the intersection of basic aging biology, chronic disease and health. November 4-5, 2019 in Bethesda, MD. Free and open to the public, as well as livestream. Register here.