May 9, 2011 – (BRONX, NY) – An estimated five million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. Health experts expect the number of cases to rise dramatically as the population ages – reaching 13.5 million by 2050. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University are among those investigating the origins and treatments of this disabling disorder.
The Einstein Aging Study (EAS) , which examines both normal brain aging and the special challenges of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, has recently received a renewal grant of $11 million from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute on Aging (NIA) to continue its work. Richard B. Lipton, M.D., the Lotti and Bernard Benson Faculty Scholar in Alzheimer's Disease and professor and vice chair of The Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, will continue to lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers and health care professionals working to discover dementia's causes and potential therapies.
"We are grateful for the longstanding support of this research program from the NIA and Einstein," said Dr. Lipton, who has been the director of EAS since 1992. "With this new funding, we will continue to explore the relationship between cognitive and motor aging and begin to study the role of pain and stress as well as disease in small blood vessels (microvascular disease) as novel, remediable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease."
Since its initial funding by the NIA 30 years ago, the EAS and its investigators have contributed to the understanding of brain aging by tracking over 2,000 Bronx County residents. Participants who join the EAS must be over 70 years old and meet regularly with researchers, who screen for a variety of physical and mental health indicators and track changes in brain function. Among their findings are that memory decline accelerates seven years before Alzheimer's disease becomes diagnosable. Armed with this knowledge, they are assessing biomarkers, genes and neuro-imaging procedures that will facilitate earlier diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
The EAS is a hub for research activity on normal brain aging and disease within Einstein and elsewhere. The study collaborates with other Einstein research projects and six independent NIH/NIA-funded grants in collaboration with other institutions. In the previous five-year funding period, EAS investigators published over 140 peer-reviewed papers.
In addition to Dr. Lipton, EAS Project Leaders include Carol Derby, Ph.D., associate professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and of epidemiology & population health; Joe Verghese M.B.B.S., professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Murray D. Gross Memorial Faculty Scholar in Gerontology; and Dennis Dickson, M.D., visiting professor of pathology. Other key investigators on the study include Charles Hall, Ph.D., Mindy Katz, M.P.H., Michael Lipton, M.D., Ph.D. , Amy Sanders, M.D. , Cuiling Wang, Ph.D. , and Molly Zimmerman, Ph.D.
About Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2009-2010 academic year, Einstein is home to 722 M.D. students, 243 Ph.D.students, 128 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 350 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has 2,775 fulltime faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2009, Einstein received more than $155 million in support from the NIH. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Through its extensive affiliation network involving five medical centers in the Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island - which includes Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein - the College of Medicine runs one of the largest post-graduate medical training programs in the United States, offering approximately 150 residency programs to more than 2,500 physicians in training. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu