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We're getting closer, says neurology and neuroscience professor, Karen Hsiao Ashe. Last year, Professor Ashe astonished the world with her discoveries that showed mice with brain atrophy similar to Alzheimer's disease could recover the ability to remember. Using the mouse she developed to mimic the symptoms of the human disease, Ashe and her team "turned off" the gene that causes the memory loss. They were surprised to discover that memory loss not only stopped, but the mice's ability to form memory had significantly recovered. This offers hope for the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer's disease—perhaps in the future we may be able to reverse the disease in people. Most recently, her lab identified a specific protein molecule in the brain that is proven to cause memory loss, which gives researchers a target for creating drugs that would stop Alzheimer's in humans even before it begins.
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Minnesota researchers are unraveling the mysteries of Alzheimer's disease.
When German physician Alois Alzheimer first reported in 1906 on the disease that now bears his name, he described two abnormal structures in the brain called plaques and tangles. This discovery was the beginning of a complicated mystery.
Nabbing the thief of memory.
Currently, about 4.5 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease, a number that could rise to 14 million in the next 20 years. Karen Hsiao Ashe and her research team have identified a possible future target for therapies to defeat this disease.
The basics behind Professor Ashe’s Alzheimer’s Research.
Get a quick synopsis of the history of the Ashe Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, recent discoveries and their significance. Plus, learn the significance of Tg2576, a transgenic mouse that mimics the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
Vital Aging Network (VAN).
Visit the VAN web site where people share information, build partnerships, and work collaboratively to focus on older people as a resource and to shape a new societal vision of what it means to be old.
As population ages, U Center responds.
Muscular degeneration, home-based injuries, depression, and chronic illnesses often destroy older adults’ dreams for active retirements. The Center on Aging at the University of Minnesota is developing new treatments for these conditions.
