Knight Initiative News

In which Anthony Wagner and Beth Mormino share what they are learning from the Stanford Aging and Memory Study about the nature of healthy brain aging.

Knight Initiative researchers discover a biomarker in spinal fluid that could help forecast Alzheimer’s progression and improve clinical trials.

Cancer treatment with a cell-based immunotherapy causes mild cognitive impairment, according to research by Wu Tsai Neuro affiliate Michelle Monje and colleagues. They also identified compounds that could treat it.

Improving cells’ ability to sort and recycle components—including cholesterol—could lead to therapies for a wide range of neurodegenerative conditions.

Favour Nerrise, NeuroTech trainee and NeURO-CC mentor, is competing in Stanford’s inaugural 3-Minute Thesis competition on April 17 presenting research that uses at–home tech and artificial intelligence to spot brain disease.

A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales by a Knight Initiative–supported team found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% — more than any other known intervention.

Knight Initiative–supported research by Pascal Geldsetzer and colleagues adds to evidence that preventing the viral infection can help stave off cognitive decline.

New Alzheimer's biomarkers focus on whether Alzheimer's has actually begun to affect a person's thinking and memory, rather than just amyloid levels.

This week on the podcast, Stanford psychiatry professor Erin Gibson joins us again to share the latest findings on sleep, myelin, and neurodegenerative disease.

New findings about the sugary armor on the brain’s frontline cells could shed light on cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s—and open new avenues for treatment.

 

Stanford Medicine spoke with neurologist Helen Bronte-Stewart, who conducted research that led to the development of a technology recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Fat-filled microglia may play a role in the damage caused by Alzheimer’s, especially for those who carry two copies a particular gene.

Today, we are going back into the archives for a conversation with neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and best-selling author David Eagleman about the science of synesthesia. If you don't know what that is, you're about to find out.

This week, we talk with our founding director, Bill Newsome, about the 10-year legacy of the NIH BRAIN Initiative and the uncertainty for the future brought on by this year's dramatic funding cuts.

Supported by the Big Ideas in Neuroscience program, research from the Brunet lab suggests the possibility of designing pharmaceutical or genetic therapies to turn on new neuron production in old or injured brains.

Stanford undergraduates and local community college students showcased their summer research projects at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, highlighting efforts to introduce students to neuroscience research for the first time.

This week on From Our Neurons to Yours, we talk with Stanford neurologist Mike Greicius about his critique of new amyloid-clearing Alzheimer's drugs, and his optimism for the next wave of therapies currently in development.

Study in mice, supported by the Knight Initiative, suggests that an experimental cancer drug boosted brain metabolism, restored memory, and improved Alzheimer's symptoms. This novel approach may offer a new way to treat Alzheimer's beyond targeting amyloid plaques.

Research by Kati Andreasson and colleagues suggests that a type of drug developed for treating cancer may hold promise as a new treatment for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

A drug that restores brain metabolism in mouse models of Alzheimer's also improved cognitive function, according to research from the Andreasson lab.