UCI MIND

Join UCI Alumni and UCI MIND for a live Q&A on healthy brain aging and Alzheimer's disease with Drs. Joshua Grill and Ruth Benca, moderated by Dr. Debra Hill, UCI School of Medicine Alumni Board Member. Please register here: https://uci.zoom.us/webi/register/WN_PW2wn274T96s9dKxr8ITdA

UCSF, UC Davis , University of California, Irvine, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), International Children Assistance Network - ICAN in partnership with over twenty community partners serving diverse Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (#AAPI) communities in California and nationwide, is pleased to announce the launch of the Collaborative Approach for AAPI Research and Education (CARE) research registry. The CARE registry team reflect multiple diverse AAPI c...ultures and languages. CARE is an opportunity for AAPI to participate in important research that may affect ourselves, our parents, children and grandchildren. Some of the important research may contribute to finding cures for and/or ways to prevent you and your loved one from getting #Alzheimers disease and other dementias. Signing-up for the registry is quick and easy. For more information about CARE, please visit: careregistry.ucsf.edu Press release: http://www.mind.uci.edu/uci-mind-ucsf-uc-davis-napca-ican-/

Congratulations to UCI MIND investigators, Drs. Elizabeth Head and Mark Mapstone, on earning a 5-year $100 million grant to study #biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down syndrome. The Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) evolved from the longstanding contributions of Dr. Ira Lott and Eric Doran who had the insight to include older people with #DownSyndrome in #Alzheimers disease research. People with Down syndrome are at very high risk ...for Alzheimer's disease as their extra copy of chromosome 21 leads to accelerated amyloid buildup with aging. The new grant will help researchers improve understanding of the unique disease progression in this population. Read more: http://www.mind.uci.edu/nih-awards-over-100-million-to-exa/ UCI School of Medicine, UCI Brain, UCI Down Syndrome Research, University of California, Irvine

Thank you to our generous benefactors, sponsors and underwriters for supporting the 11th Annual UCI MIND Gala presented by the Harris Taylor Family. New this year, we plan a virtual, livestreamed event 5:30 to 7:00 pm PST December 5th. Register for the Gala today and join us in the fight against #Alzheimers disease! gala.mind.uci.edu

Today Is #ResearchDiversity Day! Follow The Conversation On Twitter Contributed by Franklin Garcia, PhD, UCI MIND Postdoctoral Fellow "On this Research Diversity Day, I would like to share my early undergraduate experience that paved the way for my interest in #aging research.... The concept of pursuing a career in scientific research was new to me since, as a first-generation university student, I didn’t have mentors or older peers that could shed some insight or guidance. Fortunately, during my last two years as an undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine, I received mentorship from my research advisor, Prof. Frank LaFerla and the faculty advisors in the Neurobiology major. As an undergraduate, I studied how co-morbidities, such as ischemic strokes can influence #Alzheimers disease pathophysiology. Prof. LaFerla’s mentoring style and input by the wonderful lab community inspired me to continue to study aging related disorders. Now, as a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, the National Institute on Aging is supporting my research in the laboratory of Prof. Marcelo Wood to investigate how #epigenetic mechanisms change during aging and adversely affect gene expression patterns necessary for long-term memory formation. The span of my undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral experiences has each played a key role in shaping my decision to pursue a career in #neuroscience research and eventually lead studies that focus on collaboration across disciplines and openness to mentor the next generation of researchers. ----- Supporting undergraduate research is critical for helping promote #diversity in the research workforce. Join National Institute on Aging - NIH and the #ResearchDiversity Twitter chat today to hear from students and investigators, like Franklin, about their experiences with research and NIH training programs! https://twitter.com/Alzheimers_NIH

Dr. Joshua Grill discusses #Alzheimers clinical trials during the pandemic with NPR (3-minute listen) After cases began emerging worldwide, thousands of #clinicaltrials unrelated to COVID-19 were paused or canceled amid fears that participants would be infected. But now, some researchers are finding ways to carry on in spite of the coronavirus. "It's been a struggle of course," says Joshua Grill, who directs the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders at the University of California, Irvine. "But I think there's an imperative for us to find ways to move forward." ----- https://www.npr.org//a-big-alzheimers-drug-study-is-procee

Congratulations to Maria Shriver for being selected as Variety’s Entertainment Philanthropist of the Year for her trailblazing Alzheimer’s advocacy! UCI MIND is honored to partner with Shriver and her organization, The Women's Alzheimer's Movement - WAM to unravel why 2 out of every 3 people with #Alzheimers are women. Thanks to Shriver and other local philanthropists, the UCI MIND-WAM Women’s Initiative has now awarded $400,000 to UCI scientists for sex and gender disparitie...s research. Variety: So much of my work is about awareness, prevention, funding of research and trying to educate people about something they think they don’t have to worry about until they’re 80, says Shriver. And I keep trying to explain that that’s not right. You need to think about your brain when you’re 30, when you’re 35, when you’re 40. You need to think of it as a muscle or an organ. It’s the most valuable resource that you use all the time and you never think about until you’ve lost it until it’s gone."

Thank you to our community for helping us exceed 500 subscribers on YouTube! If you're not yet up to date on our #dementia education, visit our page, click the subscribe button and the bell icon to receive notifications, and explore our library of content. https://www.youtube.com/ucimind

The New York Times: There are many misperceptions of what ‘capacity to vote’ is, said Charles Sabatino, director of the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging. Incapacity to follow a recipe and cook dinner doesn’t mean incapacity to vote. The inability to remember your grandchildren’s names doesn’t mean you can’t vote. What is required as the commission and the Penn Memory Center point out in a new guide is the ability to express a preference. Can you p...ick among the choices? said Dr. Jason Karlawish, a geriatrician and co-director of the Penn Memory Center. That’s it. https://nyti.ms/3jX5WYk

You’re invited to the 11th Annual A December to Remember Gala benefiting #Alzheimers research at UCI MIND! This year’s #virtual event will feature inspiring testimonials, an online auction, and engaging performances. Registration is complimentary. Meal delivery options are available for purchase for Orange County residents.... For more information, visit https://gala.mind.uci.edu For more information and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Linda Scheck at 949.824.3251 or [email protected].

Mark your calendar for upcoming #virtual events! --- Wellness Wednesday: Healthy Brain Aging Live Q&A with Joshua Grill, PhD and Ruth Benca, MD, PhD moderated by Debra Hill, MD, UCI School of Medicine Alumni Board... Wednesday, October 28, 2020 | 7:00 8:00 pm PDT Register online: https://uci.zoom.us/webi/register/WN_PW2wn274T96s9dKxr8ITdA --- How does heart health impact the brain? Live Q&A with Daniel Nation, PhD Friday, November 6, 2020 | *1:00 1:30 pm PST* Tune in on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCIrvineMIND/live_videos --- Caring for the Caregiver Live Q&A panel on the unique challenges facing dementia caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, moderated by Joshua Grill, PhD Tuesday, November 10, 2020 | 4:00 5:30 pm PST Register online: https://dmsc.mind.uci.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=MDDEEA99A7 --- Can stem cells treat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias? Live Q&A with Mathew Blurton-Jones, PhD Friday, December 4, 2020 | 11:00 11:30 am PST Tune in on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCIrvineMIND/live_videos --- 11th Annual A December to Remember Gala Music, magic, and memories benefiting Alzheimer’s research! Saturday, December 5, 2020 | 5:30 7:00 pm PST Register online: https://aesbid.co/ELP/UCIMIND20 --- EVENT CALENDAR: https://www.mind.uci.edu/community/calendar/ Past educational sessions are archived on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/UCIrvineMIND/live_videos) and YouTube (http://youtube.com/UCIMIND)

Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna make history as the first all-female team to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their pioneering discovery of #CRISPR-Cas9, a highly specific and efficient genome editing technology. Learn more in our latest blog post, contributed by Jean Paul Chadarevian & Amanda McQuade