Knight Initiative News

Amyloid plaques have long been the focus of Alzheimer’s therapies. But Wu Tsai Neuro's Emmanuel Mignot and others are focusing on the stringy tangles of a protein called tau, the unsung second hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Anne Brunet will receive a Director's Pioneer Award, and Bianxiao Cui will receive a Director's Transformative Research Award.

The genetic variant APOE4, carried by one-fifth of the world’s people, substantially boosts Alzheimer’s risk. But scientists have been puzzled about how to reverse that risk: punch up the gene variant’s potency, or smack it down? Now we know, thanks to research funded by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience.

Researchers from around the university will collaborate to deepen our understanding of the brain.

The new work, in mice missing the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2, suggests a mechanism to help explain the overlap between epilepsy and autism.

A new study finds links between two popular models of the disease—and the results could change how researchers think about treatment.

Small cell lung cancer often metastasizes to the brain. A Stanford Medicine-led study shows the cancer cells form synapses with neurons, and signaling across these synapses encourages tumor growth.

Stanford undergrads and local community college students paired with Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute researchers to find new ways to head off strokes, predict Alzheimer's disease, and more.

A study of killifish reveals how protein dysfunction develops in vertebrate brain cells, a key driver of aging – shedding light on cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS.

Knight Initiative researchers used a new lab model of aging human neurons to show that as cells age, lysosomes fall into disrepair and waste builds up—feeding a damaging cycle that could lead to Alzheimer’s.

Blood and cerebrospinal fluid markers tied to inflammation and metabolism sort some patients into subgroups, according to Knight Initiative researchers, a step toward predicting progression and tailoring care.

The technique, which used genetically healthy donor cells, prolonged life and function in mice with a disease similar to Tay-Sachs. It may help with other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Andreasson received the Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award for her work on restoring cognition in Alzheimer's. Karly Cody, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Knight Initiative researcher Elizabeth Mormino, was also honored.

Stanford neuroscientist Sergiu Pasca is pioneering technology to recreate human brain tissue and neural circuits in the lab – giving scientists unprecedented access to human brain development and opening new possibilities for treating disorders from psychiatric disease to chronic pain.

New tools that reveal how neuron-specific waves travel through the brains of mice in real time hold promise for understanding diseases such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, and open avenues for advances in neuroscience and AI.

Is your brain aging faster than your chronological age? New research shows it could raise your risk of death and dementia significantly—and offers promise for early intervention.

Knight Initiative-funded research ran the gamut from chemistry to public health, but one theme brought it all together: Studying what makes the brain resilient will help more people live better lives.

The findings of two recent studies give hope that the disease could one day be reversed in humans—but experts warn that this complex disease will likely need multiple complementary treatments.

A new Stanford study used blood proteins to analyze the 'biological' age of brains and other organs compared to the person's actual age.

The tool, built by a team led by Stanford's Tony Wyss-Coray, uses a single vial of blood to assess the 'biological age' of each organ.