Alzheimer's Research Receives Fresh Funding
Posted by Radiance PVL on Mon, Aug 22, 2011 @ 08:53 PM
A pair of universities received grants this week as the University of Kansas Medical Center brought in $6 million and the University of Kentucky landed $7 million in grants from the National Institute on Aging. The targeted funding initiatives recognize innovative research at the programs, enabling pioneering work in the field of mental impairment to continue afresh.
The institution's research touches lives and spreads hope for all of us even as participants in the studies face the personal loss of what one member called the "painful, long and slow goodbye" associated withe Alzheimer's. In fact, two study group participants have signed on to donate their brains for research.
Charlie and Carolyn Eyer of Lexington, 81 and 79, respectively, "take regular tests of their cognitive function, enabling UK to see what changes take place in a patient's cognition before Alzheimer's appears and is diagnosed." It's a tribute to how advanced research in the field has reached that such programs even exist today, and their funding is something we encourage with enthusiasm as we observe and participate in the effort to sustain a vision of hope despite the ravages of the disease.
The KU Medical Center "will look for a link between Alzheimer’s and brain energy metabolism, in support of evidence that mitochondria, the energy factories within cells, are defective in people with Alzheimer’s disease." Such research focuses on the true cause of Alzheimer's, which is where the science examining the condition remains at this stage.
The $6 million grant also will investigate the role of lifestyle and physical activity in preventing the development of Alzheimer's, a position widely recognized by groups such as the Alzheimer's Association.
