As a result of our ongoing research, the Center published over 20 new research findings in the last year. Faculty affiliated with the Center span from lab bench science to clinical research. As a result, our discoveries and advancements contribute to the true diversity of the dementia field. To briefly summarize a few of our key discoveries:
- Drs. Irving Vega and Scott Counts of Michigan State University discovered that an increase in the protein Ezrin is associated with tau-derived neurodegeneration. (PMID 30101710)
- Director Dr. Henry Paulson and his team discovered important insights about how the protein UBQLN2 functions abnormally in neurodegenerative diseases. (DOI 10.1073/PNAS 1810522115)
- Dr. Annalise Rahman-Filipiak discovered that after further standardization of the diagnosis process, clinicians should weigh informant-reported complaints more heavily than self-reports in diagnosis. (PMID 30124444)
- Dr. Ken Langa discovered that rural adults’ cognitive functioning improves with increased levels of education. (PMID 29246677)
- Dr. Scott Roberts called attention to ethical issues in neurogenetics and helped establish the safety and efficacy of a telephone-based protocol for disclosing genetic susceptibility test results for AD. (PMID 2935614 and 28726810)
- Dr. Peter Lichtenberg confirmed reliability of a scale designed to predict financial decision-making ability when there are changes in cognition. This publication encourages clinician’s use of this scale in assessing financial capacity. (PMID 29077531)
Note: PMID refers to the study’s publication number within the national PubMed database (PubMed.gov).