Neuroscience and Aging
As our population ages, mainly due to advances in medical research, we are faced with greater numbers of individuals above the age of 65 and a plethora of age-related diseases. People above 65 years old have increased risk of developing disorders such as atherosclerosis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer , a list of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as other conditions caused by the deposition of aggregated amyloid protein fibrils, collectively called amyloidoses. The Biochemistry department offers graduate students exciting opportunities to study age-associated diseases in a variety of cellular and animal systems. Among the faculty involved with such studies are:
- Carmela Abraham (Normal aging and Alzheimer’s)
- Lawreen Connors (Systemic Amyloidosis)
- Catherine Costello (Amyloidosis)
- Richard Fine (Alzheimer’s)
- David A. Harris (Prion diseases)
- Michael Sherman (Amyloidosis in Huntington’s)
- Vassilis Zannis (Alzheimer’s)
Please go to the individual faculty member’s page for more detail.
