How an outsider bucked prevailing Alzheimer's theory, clawed for validation - STAT

How an outsider bucked prevailing Alzheimer's theory, clawed for validation - STAT

Taking on the Alzheimer's establishment

ROBERT MOIR SUGGESTS THAT PLAQUES BUILD UP IN ALZHEIMER'S AS A MEANS TO PROTECT AGAINST PATHOGENS. (STAT)

Although Alzheimer’s drugs continue to flail and fail, there’s a notable dearth of NIH funding for researchers who take unorthodox approaches to the disease. Take Robert Moir: The Massachusetts General Hospital neurobiologist has long pursued the idea that neurodegenerative disease may have a microbial root — but he’s seen funding requests and papers denied time after time. The beta-amyloid hypothesis reigns supreme, and it’s difficult to get notice if a researcher doesn’t conform.

Here’s how Moir, an unorthodox scientist, bucked the prevailing theory and managed to make a mark. 

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