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Dear friend,
Research is a vital part of developing new treatments and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but research funding from a major source, the National Institutes of Health, has declined and will most likely continue to decrease. With these increasing constraints, I am extremely grateful to have an organization like the Alzheimer’s Association leading the fight against Alzheimer’s. With your support, this organization can continue to help advance the work of researchers like me.
My research looks at how Alzheimer’s disease begins and spreads through the brain. The brain’s function depends on electrical activity, which is critical for encoding and retrieving information, as well as developing new thoughts and ideas. Electrical activity is also responsible for the formation of amyloid beta-protein, which makes up plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. We are investigating whether abnormal electrical "excitability" leads to the excessive formation of this protein. If we can understand how the abnormal activity begins, we hope to find out how the disease starts and spreads. With this knowledge, we can devise therapies for these targets and block the disease before clinical signs develop.
In addition to funding our work, the Alzheimer’s Association supports the research
community by organizing a professional society and an international conference on
Alzheimer’s. These are important venues where we exchange scientific knowledge,
sparking new ideas and new collaborations.
Understanding Alzheimer’s is indispensable to finding effective treatments – currently there
are no drugs to halt the disease’s progression. Research can stop this dreaded disease,
but we need your help. We cannot do this alone. I thank you for supporting this extremely
important organization leading the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
Warm regards,
Dean M. Hartley, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurological Sciences
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, IL
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