A funding of 150 dollars will make it possible to test the efficacy of some drugs in the fight against the disease
11 May 2018 - A grant of 150 thousand dollars disbursed by theAlzheimer's Association, the leading organization active in the care, research and support of people affected by the most common form of dementia.
It was won by Prof. Marcello D'Amelio, head ofMolecular Neuroscience Research Unit Ucbm, who in his recent research has shed light on the role of the ventral tegmental area in the onset of Alzheimer's disease. In fact, the researcher has highlighted, already in the very early stages of the pathology, the progressive death of neurons in the area where dopamine is produced and not in the hippocampus, a structure of the central nervous system involved in memory functions and on which instead the researchers they were focused on for the past 20 years.
The funding, among the most competitive in this area, will allow the researcher and his team to test the efficacy of drugs designed to block the death of the dopaminergic neuron in the ventral tegmental area on which mood disorders also depend, for D'Amelio, they are therefore a spy of Alzheimer's and not a consequence. The molecules in question, in fact, would serve to ensure the continuous production of dopamine and to pave the way for clinical trials on patients.
The grant adds to the funding already received by prof. D'Amelio by the Alzheimer's Association in 2012 and by the Ministry of Health in 2014 as an under 40 researcher.
>> Alzheimer, study on patients confirms D'Amelio's research