January Meeting

Speaker: Keenan Walker, National institute on Aging, NIH

Topic: Biomarkers and Peripheral Drivers of Dementia Identified Using Plasma Proteomics

Date: January 22, 2024

Time: 6:15 pm Dinner, 7:15 pm Presentation

Location: Shimadzu Scientific Instrument, Inc. Training Center 7100 Riverwood Drive, Columbia, MD 21046 (Directions)

Dinner: Please RSVP to Jonathan Ferguson (jonathan.ferguson33@gmail.com) by Friday, January 19 if you will be attending the dinner.

Abstract: Recent advances in high-throughput technology for the characterization of the human proteome have enabled the simultaneous assessment of thousands of circulating proteins at scale. Using this technology to examine plasma proteomic changes that precede the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease may provide a window into the underlying disease biology and nominate new biomarkers and targets for intervention. By applying SomaLogic’s SomaScan Assay to conduct a large-scale prospective analysis of the plasma proteome in cognitively normal individuals who later progress to dementia, we take a data-driven approach to discovery of early-stage blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cerebral small vessel disease. Through multi-cohort efforts which leverage network-based proteomics, genetics, brain imaging, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, we have identified a novel set of proteins, protein networks, and related biological pathways that may play a mechanistic role in age-related neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular cognitive impairment.
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lightning talks
Noah Smeriglio (George Washington University)
Yingwei Hu (Johns Hopkins University)