Waisman Center IDDRC funds three pilot projects on novel Down syndrome research

Three Waisman Center investigators and affiliates were awarded an internal grant to support Down syndrome research in its early stages. The funds were made possible through the Ann Dewey Down Syndrome Catalyst Fund at the Waisman Center.

Barbara Bendlin, PhD – Slide of the Week

Insulin resistance (IR) has been related to reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in regions identified as hypometabolic in Alzheimer’s clinical syndrome. Insulin secretion (IS) has been less studied than IR despite findings that decreased IS is an early indicator of future type 2 diabetes and a potential predictor of Alzheimer’s clinical syndrome.

Barbara B. Bendlin, PhD – Slide of the Week

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by accumulation of amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles, and this pathology can be detected using neuroimaging or fluid biomarkers prior to the development of dementia. The Alzheimer’s disease process also involves neurodegeneration which eventually leads to cognitive decline and dementia, however typical approaches for measuring neurodegeneration (such as T1-weighted imaging), may not be sensitive to neurodegeneration in the asymptomatic disease stage.

Barbara Bendlin, PhD – Slide of the Week

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), neurodegenerative processes are ongoing for years prior to the time that cortical atrophy can be reliably detected using conventional neuroimaging techniques. Recent advances in diffusion-weighted imaging have provided new techniques to study neural microstructure, which may provide additional information regarding neurodegeneration.