Dibyadeep Datta, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, has been awarded a New Investigators Award Program grant by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center.
Datta’s research is titled, “Deciphering the interplay between tau and amyloid pathology in sporadic AD.”
The research aims to provide novel insights into the very early pathological events in Alzheimer’s disease with an emphasis on identifying new biomarkers and mechanistic pathways that can inform the development of preventative treatments, particularly for high-risk APOE-ε4 carriers.
This project could uncover the earliest steps in Alzheimer’s disease, long before symptoms appear, by revealing how amyloid and tau set off damaging cascades in the brain. The findings may explain why some brain regions are hit early while others are spared, and why APOE-ε4 carriers are at such high risk. Ultimately, the research could help identify more sensitive early diagnostic tests and point to new treatment strategies aimed at stopping disease before irreversible damage occurs
Datta is a neuroscientist dedicated to presenting the neurobiological mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunction in major neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, with a particular focus on schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.