$2.2 million NIH grant: Dr. Aaron Wilber recipient of five-year grant to study the connection between Alzheimer's disease and difficulty navigating new surroundings

Getting lost, particularly in new surroundings, is an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting the disease is affecting the brain’s navigation and memory systems at this stage. A potential cause for failed Alzheimer’s treatments lies in the inherent difficulty in catching the disease before the brain has become very dysfunctional. This grant is focused on identifying early changes in the brain and the ability to navigate our surroundings. The hope is that looking earlier in the disease progression will yield new insight into approaches for detecting and treating Alzheimer’s disease. We are also looking at later timepoints since more is known about later brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease.