Emory Receives $73 Million to Research Alzheimer's Treatments

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has selected Emory University to receive a federal five-year grant of more than $73 million to underwrite international research into Alzheimer's prevention drugs, reports the Emory Wheel . Through the grant, the Georgia-based school will set up the Open Drug Discovery Center for Alzheimer's under the direction of Professor Allan Levey, with Sage Bionetworks and the Structural Genomics Consortium filling out the research team. Levey said the center seeks to widen the search for therapeutic possibilities beyond amyloid proteins and neurofibrillary tangles. The goal is to generate chemical and biological tools for identifying and treating other proteins that may contribute to the disorder in animal models and later in human clinical trials. Researchers will share results through regular communication, to ultimately develop drugs that decelerate the neural changes that lead to Alzheimer's. Prevention will be prioritized via development of biomarkers for risk factors and offering treatment to those at risk. "Those early changes that we're finding in the brain are beginning 15-20 years before symptoms begin," Levey said. "Since most of those people are older when they get symptoms, if we can delay the onset of the symptoms for even five or 10 years, we can prevent the disease in many people."