Global teams up with Alzheimer’s Association

Awarding a total of $2.2 mil in Down syndrome-Alzheimer’s research grants. Samuel L. Jackson shares how his family has been affected by the disease

For the second year in a row, Global Down Syndrome Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association and the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome are teaming up to to better understand the development of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals with Down syndrome and translate the research into improved treatments for people at risk to develop Alzheimer’s.

The organizations are supporting this growing area of study through a joint grant initiative called “Understanding the Development and Devising Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease in Individuals with Down Syndrome.”

Why Down syndrome-Alzheimer’s disease research is important

One in eight older Americans suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s today, with an estimated 13 million by 2050. One hundred percent of people with Down syndrome have the brain pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, and an estimated 50 percent will develop the symptoms before age 50. Recognizing that these conditions are “two sides of the same coin” and studying them together will hasten the development of new treatments for both.

The effects of Alzheimer’s are well-known, but it’s the personal stories that really make an impact. In a magazine article and video with the Hollywood Reporter, film megastar Samuel L. Jackson talks about his family’s “heartbreaking” struggle with Alzheimer’s. Read more at www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-opens-up-725419 and watch the video below.

2015 Research Grants

Global and the Alzheimer’s Association have already awarded $1.2 million in research grants to scientists around the world studying the connection between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, and a second round of grants, totaling $1 million, will be announced soon.

Previous Research Grants Awardees and Their Projects

In response to a Request for Application, more than 50 applications from around the world were received and vetted by the extensive peer review system at the Alzheimer’s Association with input from the Crnic Institute. The process resulted in five grants, including:

Three grants for senior investigators, each totaling $300,000:

• Investigator: Dr. Huaxi Xu, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
  Title: Roles of miR-155/C/EBPß/SNX27 pathway in Alzheimer’s disease/DS

• Investigator: Dr. Ann-Charlotte Granholm,  Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
  Title: Brain-derived neurotropic factor and executive dysfunction in DS

• Investigator: Dr. Karen Chang, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
  Title: Functional protein interactions in Alzheimer’s disease and DS

Two grants for new investigators, each totaling $150,000:

• Investigator: Dr. Donna Wilcock, University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington, KY
  Title: Inflammatory biomarkers to predict transition to dementia in DS

• Investigator: Dr. Eitan Okun, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
  Title: Developing a DNA vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease in patients with DS