Author Archives: Malika Ammam, PhD

Recent research has shed new light on genetic mechanisms involved in the process of neurodegenerative disease development. Neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s are conditions characterized by the progressive loss of structure and function of neurons that eventually lead to the neuron’s death. These conditions involve complex processes and mechanisms that render the…

A review analysis by Professor Melissa Schilling, a strategy and innovation expert at the New York University’s Stern School of Business, suggests a strong link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The study, “Unraveling Alzheimer’s: Making Sense of the Relationship between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease,” was published in…

A recent study suggests that amyloid beta plaques may alter normal blood flow to brain tissue and contribute to development of Alzheimer’s disease. The paper, published in the journal Brain, is entitled “Vascular amyloidosis impairs the gliovascular unit in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.”…

Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive deficits could be linked to reduced neuronal levels of BRCA1, a protein typically targeted in cancer research. These were the results of a study entitled “DNA repair factor BRCA1 depletion occurs in Alzheimer brains and impairs cognitive function in mice,” published in Nature Communications.

Researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center developed a novel strategy to extract large quantities of brain protein from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues in patients with Alzheimer’s, an advancement that may lead to a new understanding of brain protein changes found in the disease. The study entitled “Proteomic…

A study published in Cell Stem Cell journal entitled “Small Molecules Efficiently Reprogram Human Astroglial Cells into Functional Neurons” showed that treatment of astroglial cells with a cocktail of nine small molecules resulted in neuron-like cells with similar electrical and neurotransmitter activities as functional…

A study published in Stem Cell Reports, entitled “Neural Stem Cells Rescue Cognitive and Motor Dysfunction in a Transgenic Model of Dementia with Lewy Bodies through a BDNF-Dependent Mechanism,” reports that neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation into mice suffering from dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) significantly improved…

A recent communication from the University of Texas at Arlington reported that computer scientists led by Professor Heng Huang won a $2 million grant funded by the National Institutes of Health to investigate the possibility of predicting whether a person is predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s disease by analyzing complex genomics data.

In a newly published paper in Genes & Development journal entitled “Myxococcus CsgA, Drosophila Sniffer, and human HSD10 are cardiolipin phospholipases“, researchers from University of Georgia suggest that a soil bacterium protein named HSD10 reduces oxidative stress, stimulates repair of nerve cells and contributes to slow down…

In a newly published paper in the Neurology journal entitled “Type 2 diabetes mellitus and biomarkers of neurodegeneration”, scientists from Australia found that neurodegenerative disease related dementia could be linked to type 2 diabetes. Neurodegenerative disorders occur as a consequence of a progressive loss of structure/function…