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Researchers at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, including FunGen-AD researchers Derek Dykxhoorn, Anthony Griswold, Jeffery Vance, and Juan Young, recently published a study showing differences in chromatin accessibility between ancestries.

FunGen-AD researcher Richard Mayeux is part of a Columbia University research team investigating blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease. A recent study of older adults found that, when used in combination with memory tests, these blood tests could help physicians correctly identify patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis studied blood plasma samples from COVID-19 patients and identified proteins that may help predict which patients may need to be placed on ventilators to breathe and which are most likely to die of the virus.

FunGen-AD researcher Oscar Harari was part of a team that found a new way to improve waste clearance from the brain that could help treat or prevent neurodegenerative conditions. Immune cells surrounding the brain that influence how efficiently waste is swept out of the brain are impaired in old mice and in people and mice with Alzheimer’s disease.

FunGen-AD investigator Carlos Cruchaga was part of a team that identified a unique biomarker that could lead to new diagnostic tests able to detect Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear. Levels of this protein in cerebrospinal fluid can reliably detect damage to the cells lining tiny blood vessels in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. Blood vessel injury is an important contributor to cognitive impairment in even the earliest presymptomatic stages of the disease.