Funding has been awarded for two ADCC study pilots, and they will be funded for fiscal year 2014. The first, a study by Zahra Fakhraai, is titled "The Effect of Surface Interactions on the Early Stages of Aβ Fibril Growth." In patients with Alzheimer's disease, amyloid plaques in the brain are thought to be the the cause of the disease. This study examine the evolution and structure of the amyloid beta peptide, the main component of amyloid plaques.

The second funded study is led by Rachel Gross, MD, and is titled "Radionuclide Imaging of Amyloid Plaques and Basal Ganglionic Dopamine in the Parkinson Brain." This study will use PET imaging to investigate the relationship between amyloid plaques and nigro-striatal dopamine as markers for Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, respectively. These abnormal synuclein in Lewy body dementia and amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease are major contrbiutors to cognitive impairment in patients.

Robert Green, MD, MPH presented the grand rounds lecture titled Ethical Dilemmas in Genetics Research: When should subjects learn their results? on Tuesday, January 29 to a packed crowd in the Surgery Theater at the Hospital University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Green’s lecture addressed the question of how to proceed when discovering incidental findings in genetic research, such as discovering a subject’s likelihood to be a carrier for certain diseases, and the ethical implications that come with revealing that information to the subject or patient.

Dr. Green is a physician and scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the division of genetics and department of medicine. Dr. Green's research has led to key contributions in understanding genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, including the development of risk estimates based on family history and genetic markers.

Watch this Ann's Choice Today interview as David Wolk, MD, Assistant Director of the Penn Memory Center outlines the benefits of the multidisciplinary approach provided at the Penn Memory Center.