NIH Awards $45M to Alzheimer’s Research
isbscience.org/news/2013/09/19/nih-awards-for-alzheimers-research/
The National Institutes of Health announced $45 million in grants to support several research groups that are focused on Alzheimer's prevention. ISB's Price Lab will be working with the University of Florida to use systems biology to identify new therapeutic targets in the innate immune system. The systems approach, which ISB pioneered, allows scientists to integrate and analyze disparate data (genome, gene expression, pathology) in order to find the molecular triggers for disease.
Here's a description from the NIH site about the project:
A Systems Approach to Targeting Innate Immunity in Alzheimer’s — Dr. Todd Golde, University of Florida, Gainesville, and colleagues. $1.6 million in fiscal 2013, with the potential of $7.7 million over five years
This study builds on the genetic and pathological evidence that the innate immune system, which provides immediate defense against infection, and brain inflammation have a significant role in Alzheimer’s disease. To identify and characterize novel therapeutic targets within the innate immune system, this study will use a systems biology approach to integrate genomic, gene expression, and pathological data from Alzheimer’s patients and Alzheimer’s mouse models and analyze them in novel ways. The team will test in animal models of the disease the validity and therapeutic potential of the key factors predicted by the analysis. This has the potential to speed the discovery and testing of Alzheimer’s disease prevention and treatment therapies by targeting the immune system. (NIA support: AG 046139-01)
Learn more about how the funds will be applied:
National Institutes of Health press release
The New York Times article
USA TODAY article
International Business Times article
PM LiVE article
