Henrik Zetterberg
Gothenborg University
Sweden
Pathways to Alzheimers disease
The Swedish Brain Foundation
108,814
01/07/2015
2.5
Using patient materials in conjunction with cell, zebrafish and hippocampal slice models, we will address four major hypotheses of fundamental importance to the AD research field:
(i) Many patients diagnosed with clinical AD do not have AD neuropathology.
(ii) Amyloid build-up in AD is caused by imbalance in the production and clearance of specific Abeta
isoforms.
(iii) Abeta needs brain incubation over years to become toxic.
(iv) Gamma-Secretase dysfunction and/or microglial activation mediate Abeta toxicity.
The uniqueness of the project lies in the combination of well-characterised clinical materials (including cerebrospinal fluid samples [CSF; the fluid that surrounds the brain and communicates freely with the brain interstitial fluid] and brain specimens), state-of-the-art clinical laboratory testing, groundbreaking approaches to biomarker discovery, and both novel and established animal and cell models. The proposed research is translational and involves clinical and pre-clinical units at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the Sahlgrenska Academy, as well as several national and
international collaborators.