Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Dec 4, 2023 | 6 min read
Haydeh Payami helped uncover the genetic basis of Parkinson’s disease. Now, she hopes to find new ways to treat the disease by studying the gut microbiome.
The APOE4 variant causes cholesterol buildup in the cells that make protective fatty sheaths for neurons, possibly helping explain its role in neurodegeneration.
A new study shows that the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients have a greater viral load, while another study in mice shows infection leads to amyloid-β build up.
Research traces the evolution of a gene variant that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, finding that it originally evolved in response to infectious bacteria.