
Patrick S
- Research Program Mentor
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Expertise
Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Neurodegeneration, Circadian rhythms, neuroinflammation
Project ideas
The Amyloid Hypothesis: Sifting through the controversy
For many years, scientists have thought that amyloid beta was the protein responsible for a patient developing Alzheimer's Disease symptoms. This "Amyloid Hypothesis" is now being questioned in light of current clinical data. Recently, drugs have been developed that reduce amyloid beta in patients. Surpsingly, the drugs worked in reducing amyloid beta, but it did not result in the slowing of disease pathology. Does this mean that the amyloid hypothesis is incorrect? Is amyloid beta less important in the progression of disease then what we once thought? This study aims to elucidate the issues with the amyloid hypothesis and to assess where we stand in our understanding of amyloid beta's contribution to disease.