Interdisciplinary research on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD)

Two-channel confocal microscopy detection of AD pathology (immunoreactivity: red, Aβ; green, tau). Image credit: Kristen Funk, PhD.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia. Its defining pathology includes intracellular neurofibrillary lesions composed of aggregated tau protein and extracellular plaques composed of aggregated Aβ peptide. Tau lesions also form in AD-related disorders together termed “tauopathies”. Our laboratory focuses on tau pathology, which is an established marker for differential disease diagnosis and staging, a surrogate marker for neurodegeneration, a potential vector for disease propagation, and a source of toxicity in biological models.