Genes Found Related to the Reduction of Proteins that Contribute to Alzheimer’s Onset

Alzheimer’s Disease and other cognitive dementia conditions are an increasingly important subject for medical researchers as the population lives longer and rates of dementia rise along with the greater lifespans. One team of research scientists are looking to a molecular map of the brains of older people as one way to better understand cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s. The team is hoping greater understanding of the neural network that makes up the brain will benefit cognitive research. The brain has a network on the cellular level that links and orders its processes on a physical level, one that ties into molecular and genetic components of the human brain.

Since 2013, the National Institute on Aging, in cooperation with other health and medical research programs, has been pursuing this molecular scale investigation into the human brain. Their data is starting to reach a point where it can offer information of real use to Alzheimer’s and cognitive researchers around the world. They have been able to build neural maps of the brain, ones that a representative of a typical elderly person’s brain rather than only brains that are experiencing dementia conditions. Their research has provided a very detailed look at brain function in new ways that should help advance the search for treatments, maybe even cures, for cognitive decline and specific cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s.