Down Syndrome & Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer Disease Conference Highlights [Video]

This week the Dementia Researcher Podcast shines a spotlight on last months DSAD-ADAD Conference, which focused on Down Syndrome Associated Alzheimer’s disease (DSAD) and Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer’s Disease (ADAD). The conference, held in Barcelona, brought together over 160 researchers from 16 countries to discuss groundbreaking research in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

The podcast hosted Sára Erzsebet Zsadányi features three guests, Natalie Edwards, Dr Lisi Flores Aguilar, and Professor Jason Hassenstab. Together they share news from the conference and discuss various topics from genetic predispositions to treatment strategies. The conference highlighted the importance of collaboration and the overlap between DSAD and ADAD research. The podcast also touches on the potential of using retinal imaging as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, the importance of considering sex and APOE4 homozygotes in research, and the need for more patient perspectives in clinical trials.

About the guests:

Dr Lisi Flores Aguilar is a Postdoctoral Research at University of California, Irvine researching cerebrovascular pathology in people with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease under the mentorship of Dr Elizabeth Head.

Natalie Edwards is a PhD Student at Columbia University. Natalie is studying the independent and interactive contributions of cerebrovascular disease and neuroinflammation to Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome using neuroimaging techniques and biofluidics.

Jason Hassenstab is Professor, Neurology and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. Jason directs a lab called the ‘Cognitive Technology Research Laboratory (CTRLab)’ where they develop technology designed to improve the assessment of cognition and function in normal aging and in Alzheimer’s populations. He has also been the Cognition Core Leader for the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) studies for 11 years, and is Principal Investigator of ARC-DS, a multi-site study to develop a mobile data collection platform in Down syndrome-associated Alzheimer’s disease.

Sára Erzsebet Zsadányi is a PhD Student at the Sant Pau Memory Unit – Neuroimaging Core and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Originally from New Zealand, Sára studied psychology and linguistics, but always felt really drawn to neuroscience and especially to Alzheimer’s disease. Her research is focused on neuroimaging of small vessel disease in Down Syndrome and autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease.

For more information on the conference visit:
https://dsad-adad.com/

00:00 Introductions
08:58 Biomarkers and neuroimaging
11:40 Vascular Pathology, eye as a biomarker and portable MRI
16:29 Cognitive trajectories of down syndrome and discovery of lewybody pathology
20:43 Speech and down syndrome app
23:54 DIAN study and familial alzheimer’s disease
27:42 APOE, sex effects and clinical trials
32:36 Genetics, down syndrome and dementia clinical trials
39:07 Collaborations and networking
41:04 Roundup and goodbyes

#FamilialAlzheimersDisease #downsyndrome

Full biographies on all our guests and a transcript can be found on our website:

https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

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https://soundcloud.com/dementia-researcher/dsad-adad-confernce/s-aw1Sqt2evlG?si=1961bb13790e4d9eb98d1a162c327dab&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This podcast is brought to you by University College London / UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in association with Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society and Race Against Dementia who we thank for their ongoing support.

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