New center will detail differences between Alzheimer's and healthy brains

A new research center funded by the National Institute on Aging and other groups is launching today with the goal of mapping the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. The $40.5 million center, which currently does not have a name and will be headquartered at Seattle's Allen Institute for Brain Science, is funded for the next five years. Researchers will use post-mortem brains housed at two different repositories at the University of Washington to better understand what differentiates the brains of healthy people versus those who developed Alzheimer's, especially since the long-held amyloid theory that has governed Alzheimer's research for decades hasn't held up as scientists had hoped. Experiments at the center will also aim to pinpoint different stages of the neurodegenerative to disease to better understand how it progresses.