UC Berkeley: the HELEN WILLS NEUROSCIENCE INSTITUTE

Research Project: Blood-Brain Barrier dysfunction as a novel mechanism of age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease

The 2021 grant is an extension of a grant that commenced in 2018 and is directed to Dr. Daniela Kaufer at UC Berkeley.  While a major theory of causation of Alzheimer’s Disease invokes the deposition of a protein know as amyloid, we do not understand how amyloid is deposited nor do we understand how cognitive decline frequently occurs in its absence. In this project, Dr. Kaufer’s team will explore the possibility that disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) may lead to amyloid deposition or, conversely, to brain shrinkage and memory loss in the absence of amyloid. The study will use a mouse model of amyloid deposition combined with an experimental intervention to disrupt the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) to examine how BBB dysfunction may lead to or exacerbate amyloid deposition. 

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Current Grant
$50,000

Grant Term
One Year

Cumulative Grants
$250,000