CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – A researcher at the University of Virginia has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Association to study a key process in the brain that may contribute to Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s affects nearly 7,000,000 Americans, and that number is expected to nearly double by 2050.
“This is a long process,” Doctor Helen Wang said. “It takes a lot of years and years to get from bench to bedside, but we want to do it step-by-step and finally make some breakthroughs in the field.”
Dr. Wang is a postdoctoral researcher at UVA and will be using a new grant to study ER-associated degradation, or ERAD.
“It’s basically a protein degradation machine in the cell that controls protein quality,” Dr. Wang said.
Those harmful proteins can build up, and researchers believe it may contribute to Alzheimer’s.
“Our ultimate goal is to see whether we can manipulate ERAD and use it as a target for patients with Alzheimer’s disease to slow down it’s progression,” Dr. Wang said.
The Alzheimer’s Association, which funds more dementia research than any other non-profit in the world, has invested over $430 million on projects like Wang’s, hoping to accelerate treatment breakthroughs.
“If it indeed can slow down the disease, we will in the future at some point, develop drugs and those therapeutic methods that can be potentially used in humans in the future,” Dr. Wang said.
Wang’s research could offer new hope to families affected by Alzheimer’s.
The Alzheimer’s Association says funding early-career scientists is a key step in finding solutions to the growing crisis.
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