Alzheimer’s Association

General Research

The current grant is towards general research. Prior grants have included UC Irvine research studding the Blood Brain Barrier  (BBB) which helps maintain a healthy brain environment by tightly regulating what goes in and out of the brain from the circulating blood.  Dysfunction of the BBB has been associated with the progression of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s. Researchers hypothesize that during Alzheimer’s disease, damage to the BBB may contribute to the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein into “plaques” in the brain, but more research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms. 

Dr. Inlay’s team are creating a BBB grown in a laboratory dish using a special type of stem cell called “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPSCs). iPSCs can be made from skin cells of adults and then “reprogrammed” to become other types of cells. The iPSCs contain genetic information specific to the individual they were collected from and can be used by scientists to study cells made directly from people with Alzheimer’s disease.  

If successful, this study will be the first to develop an all-human model of the blood-brain barrier using iPSCs from people with Alzheimer’s disease. This work could shed new light on the interactions of the different cell types that form the BBB and help determine how genetic variations associated with Alzheimer’s risk affect BBB function.

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Current Grant
$5,000

Grant Term
One Year

Cumulative Grants
$230,000