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Alzheimer\\u2019s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., and statistics suggest that an individual has a 50% chance of developing the disease after age 85. Approximately 150 drug trials for Alzheimer\\u2019s have failed, but the efforts continue nonetheless. Erik Gunther, Ph.D., is an associate research scientist at the Strittmatter Lab at Yale University School of Medicine, and he is working on the development of a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer\\u2019s\\u2014one\\xa0that operates under the compelling hypothesis that the buildup of beta-amyloid proteins or \\u201cplaque\\u201d in the brain is what causes Alzheimer\\u2019s. Rather than follow the lead of what\\u2019s already failed\\u2014which are drugs that remove plaque once it\\u2019s already accumulated in the brain\\u2014they \\u2019re working on a drug that will prevent the buildup of plaque in the first place. It\\u2019s a novel approach to a long-standing problem, and it could change everything for current and future generations.

In addition to explaining exactly how the drug interacts with neurons in the brain and what they\\u2019ve discovered from trials with laboratory mice, Dr. Gunther discusses a range of other topics, including the genetic contribution of early-onset Alzheimer\\u2019s disease and how it bolsters the beta-amyloid hypothesis, what occurs during the progression of Alzheimer\\u2019s disease and how it ultimately causes death, how an Alzheimer\\u2019s diagnosis is reached (and the problem of misdiagnosis), insulin resistance of the brain and the possible connection between diabetes and Alzheimer\\u2019s, and how the brain\\u2019s immune system works.

Press play to hear all the details of these topics and more, and visit https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/strittmatter/ to stay current on the latest research.\\xa0