Alzheimer's Disease Research Summit 2012
Path to Treatment and Prevention

May 14-15, 2012

Session 1: Interdisciplinary Approach to Discovering and Validating the Next Generation of Therapeutic Targets for Alzheimer’s Disease Discussant: Roberta Brinton

Dr. Roberta Brinton Featured in the The Science Coalition

Roberta Diaz Brinton, Ph.D. discusses her work researching the treatment of women who suffer from Alzheimer's Disease, a condition which costs Americans $200 billion a year.

Why Women Are More Likely to Have Alzheimer's Disease

by  Rachael Rettner for My Health News Daily
Published on: May 10, 2012

Traditionally, researchers have believed that women’s increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease was due to the fact that women live longer, said Roberta Diaz Brinton, a professor of pharmacology, biomedical engineering and neurology at the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy. However, women only live about four years longer than men, and Alzheimer’s develops over decades, Brinton said.
Now, research from Brinton and colleagues suggests that, as women age, their brains experience a shift in the way they use energy. A woman’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease may, in part, be determined by how well it adapts to this energy shift, Brinton said.
“Just like the woman is going through a reproductive shift,” Brinton said, “the brain is undergoing adaptations as well.”

Roberta Diaz Brinton Receives CIRM Planning Award For Alzheimer's Research

Roberta Diaz Brinton, the R. Pete Vanderveen Endowed Chair in Therapeutic Discovery and Development, is one of 19 researchers to receive a CIRM Disease Team Therapy Development Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to support the assembly of a research team to develop a clinical trial grant that could be worth up to $20 million.

“These planning awards continue CIRM’s record of requiring scientists to work in teams, sharing knowledge and speeding the time to new therapies,” said CIRM President Alan Trounson in a release. Brinton’s is the only award received by USC in this round of funding.