HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology recently hosted a series of events to highlight its current research efforts with Alzheimer disease. Nick Cochran, PhD, presented June 5 to HudsonAlpha supporters to kick off June’s Alzheimer and brain awareness month. In addition, HudsonAlpha president Richard M. Myers, PhD, and Nick Cochran, PhD, gave a joint presentation on June 21 at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology to feature the work on Alzheimer disease in the Myers Lab.
A clip of Dr. Nick Cochran’s presentation can be viewed here.
HudsonAlpha is attacking Alzheimer disease in three distinct ways. The scientific team is identifying new causes, using the immune system to explore early detection testing and discovering new therapeutic approaches to improve how we diagnose, treat and ultimately prevent Alzheimer disease.
A critical component of the project is collaboration. Recently, HudsonAlpha hosted Dr. Ken Kosik of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Kosik has been working on an Alzheimer disease research project in remote villages in Colombia tracking families with abnormal genes that cause the early onset of Alzheimer disease. HudsonAlpha is receiving patient samples from his project with early-onset cases in that country, which is a rare and unique opportunity to advance the research.
Kosik said he is “very enthusiastic about the collaboration we’re setting up” with HudsonAlpha. “The incredible technology, skill set and personnel here are going to enhance our investigation of genes in Colombia a lot.”
HudsonAlpha is also partnering with Erik Roberson, MD, PhD, through the UAB Memory Disorders Clinic and the Kirklin Clinic. That collaboration will investigate a different set of patients with early-onset Alzheimer disease. By studying these patients and their families, we hope to find patterns to aid us in our larger Impacting Alzheimer Disease project.
“UAB and HudsonAlpha have a history of collaboration,” said Erik Roberson, MD, PhD, the Patsy W. and Charles A. Collat Professor of Neuroscience at UAB. Dr. Roberson is also the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at UAB. “We are excited to work together on this Alzheimer disease project.”
For more information on HudsonAlpha’s Impacting Alzheimer Disease project, visit hudsonalpha.org/memory-and-mobility-fund.
