Cracking the Alzheimer’s Code

February 26, 2015

DeanLaFerla_155RScientists are creating new treatments in hopes to find new ways to prevent, stop, and slow Alzheimer’s, a disease that is an underlying cause of 500,000 deaths a year. Through collaborative research and technological advances, researchers and scientists have been able study possible causes to the progressive disease and have been able to associate 21 genes to Alzheimer and how these genes are playing a role in the neurological behavior in patients. Clinical trials are underway to find new preventative drugs and treatments.

In the recent issue of Discover Magazine, School of Biological Sciences Dean Frank M. LaFerla shares his expertise on the subject. “We’ve been operating under the assumption that a single drug would do the trick in terms of reversing the deficits,” says Dean LaFerla, also an Alzheimer’s disease researcher.

“But it’s like trying to put out a raging fire with a bucket of water. Once a fire reached that point, you need to bring out the fire trucks and helicopters. It’s likely the combination of strategies will be needed to halt the disease’s progression, using a cocktail of medications aimed at different targets in much the same ways AIDS and many cancers are now treated.”

Read the full article in Discover Magazine here.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can support the faculty and research at the Biological Sciences School, please contact Andrew DiNuzzo at 949.824.2734 or adinuzzo@uci.edu.