Ricardo D'Oliveira Albanus is a Postdoctoral Associate at the NeuroGenomics & Informatics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. His research interests lie in the genetics of healthy aging and neurodegenerative diseases. To this end, he applies data-intensive approaches do integrate high-throughput multi-omic molecular profiles of human brains across a wide spectrum of genetic backgrounds and neuropathological states.

Richard Daneman received his B.Sc. from McGill University majoring in biochemistry and his Ph.D in Developmental Biology from Stanford University working with Ben Barres. Dr. Daneman then started his own lab as a Sandler Fellow at UCSF, before moving to a faculty position in the Departments of Pharmacology and Neurosciences at the UCSD. Dr. Daneman studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate blood-brain barrier (BBB) function during health and disease. His lab uses a combination of cellular, molecular and genetic approaches to understand the mechanisms of BBB formation and function, addressing important questions such as: What are the mechanisms that regulate the formation and function of the BBB? How does the BBB interact with the neuronal circuitry to regulate brain function and behavior? What are the molecular mechanisms that lead to BBB disruption during neurological disease? The overall goal of our work is to elucidate these mechanisms, such that we will be able to develop therapeutics to modulate the barrier to treat neurological diseases. He has received a number of honors including the Klingenstein-Simons Award, the Rita Allen Foundation Milton E. Cassel Scholar award, the AAA young investigator award, the ASPET Neuropharmacology Early Career award and the Landis Award.

Sudeshna Das, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS). She directs the Data Core of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (MADRC) and the MGH Biomedical Informatics Core. Her research focuses on applying statistical inference and machine learning to high-dimensional molecular -omics datasets and healthcare big-data to advance brain research in health and disease. She develops and applies deep learning algorithms to electronic health records for Alzheimer’s disease research and uses causal-inferencing techniques to emulate in-silico trials for drug repurposing for dementia. She collaborates closely with physician-scientists to understand the mechanistic basis of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders.

A major focus of my research centers around the design and development of immunotherapeutic approaches for treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders. My interest and expertise in this area include development and studies of various types of AD and Parkinson Disease (PD) vaccines, including DNA and protein vaccines, viral vector, epitope-based vaccines, as well as strategies to enhance vaccine efficacy (chemokines, molecular adjuvants, etc.). I am also extremely interested in understanding the role of the adaptive immune system in AD and whether neuroprotective autoantibodies may slow or even prevent the development of AD. Over the course of my career, I have successfully collaborated with many researchers, producing over 45 peer-reviewed publications to date. While working on these projects, I have demonstrated skills that enabled me to lead the process and successful completion of several projects: creation of research plans, timelines and workable budgets, with emphasis on setting realistic and informative goals. My current project at UCI MIND we developed a fully-defined approach to differentiate patient-derived iPS cells into microglia and is using these cells in conjunction with CRISPR gene editing and chimeric xenotransplantation models to examine the impact of AD-associated mutations in TREM2, MS4A6A and PLCG2 on human microglial function.

I am currently a PhD student in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences (final year). I work in the Alzheimer Team, a part of the laboratory of histology, neuroanatomy and neuropathology, member of the ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI) and located at the faculty of Medicine of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium (formerly directed by Prof. Jean-Pierre BRION). My PhD thesis is supervised by Karelle LEROY, PhD. Our lab studies the mechanisms involved in the formation of neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer’s disease and other associated tauopathies. My research focuses on the effect of peripheral contaminations on tau pathology propagation in the brain of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. For more informations, please consult our new website : https://alzheimer-research.medecine.ulb.be/

I am a neurologist working at the Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands, with a special interest in clinical neurophysiology and cognitive neurology. Besides clinical work at the Alzheimer Center of the VU University Medical Center, I am head of the EEGlab, where we perform the central EEG analysis for multicenter pharmacological trials in AD. We also provide trial design advice, and site instruction and coaching. Besides the clinically oriented research I have a focus on brain network analysis and computational modeling of dementia, as well as non-invasive brain stimulation and the development of neurophysiological network data visualisation software.

Passionate CAA researcher

I am a 2nd year PhD student at the Lab for Molecular Neurobiomarker Research and the Lab for Cognitive Neurology at KU Leuven, Belgium. I have a background in Biomedical Sciences and Advanced Medical Imaging. The main focus of my study is blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease. During this conference I will present two novel prototype Simoa assays for the quantification of phospho-tau181 and phospho-tau231 in plasma.

Itziar is a background Biochemist and master in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. She has wide experience in research on neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease. His main lines of research focus on the identification of new genetic risk factors of dementia by genome wide association studies in different phenotypes and endophenotypes. She has also contributed to many publications on cognitive decline and even healthy cohort studies. She has the expertise for DNA analysis and the know how to endorse PRS to individuals using genome array datasets and conducting subsequent analyses. Finally, she has 27 publications indexed in JCR journals accrediting her expertise and has participated in 10 nationwide and international genomics consortia.

I’m a junior resident in Neurology at the "G. d’Annunzio" University of Chieti. I graduated cum laude in 2020 at “La Sapienza” University of Rome. Since the beginning of my residency, I have been working and joining the research teams of Prof. Marco Onofrj, Prof. Stefano Sensi, and Prof. Laura Bonanni. My competences include of several research articles, including: 1. I have co-authored Baione V, De Rosa M.A. et al. Attention-Demanding Cognitive Tasks Worsen Postural Control in Patients With Cervical Dystonia: A Case-Control Study" Front Neurol 2021 Apr 6;12:666438. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.666438. eCollection 2021. 2. Dono F, De Rosa M.A. et al. New daily persistent headache after SARS-CoV-2 infection: a report of two cases [published online ahead of print, 2021 Jul 15]. Neurol Sci. 2021;1-4. doi:10.1007/s10072-021-05444-3 3. Russo M, Consoli S, De Rosa MA, Calisi D, Dono F, Carrarini C, Onofrj M, De Angelis MV, Sensi SL. A case of Sars-Cov-2-related mania with prominent psychosis>. Psychiatry Res. 2021 Dec;306:114266. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114266. Epub 2021 Nov 2. PMID: 34781110; PMCID: PMC8562037. I have also experience in clinical trials in the field of cognitive, motor, and psychiatric symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders. I have also collaborated to research projects regarding dementia and movement disorders.