Genetics and Molecular Pathology of Dementia Disorders

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common brain disorder mainly affecting ~5% and ~20% of the population above 65 and 80 years of age respectively. Genetics discoveries have proved very powerful to understand the disease mechanisms of AD. Four genes have been identified which all have later been linked to the formation or deposition of Aß protein, a pathologic hallmark of AD. The aim of our research is to understand the disease mechanism of dementia disorders and evaluate diagnostic and therapeutic options through the combination of genetics, protein biochemistry, cell biology and transgenics. In our laboratory you can choose to be involved in the discovery of new genes that are causing Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorder through human genetic studies of families, sib-pairs and genetic epidemiology. An alternative option is to work with protein biochemistry and cell biology to understand the complex mechanisms whereby Aß protein aggregates and how these processes are damaging brain function using test tube experiments and cell culture models. A third ongoing project is to develop and use transgenic mice models of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorder to understand disease mechanism in the brain and its implications for loss of memory and other brain functions.