Building upon the expertise in dementia research and care across Penn Medicine, the health system has been awarded a  $5 million grant from the Delaware Community Foundation to support the Penn Institute on Aging’s (IOA) work to develop the next generation of therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Led by David Wolk, MD, and Edward Lee, MD, PhD, the IOA will collaborate with teams who have identified and validated potential therapeutic targets to translate basic science research into treatments that address the root causes of ADRD.

Specifically, the funds will support development and translation of novel therapeutics and approaches for more effective targeting and enhanced efficacy of therapies that change how ADRD develops over time. Funds will also support expansion of tissue and biofluid repositories, DNA sequencing, and biomarker testing, facilitating discovery and testing of potential targets for new therapies.  

There is an estimated 6 million Americans currently living with an ADRD, which includes Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and Lewy Body dementia. These dementias cause devastating symptoms, such as memory loss and impairment of language, vision, judgement, and emotional control. These symptoms profoundly impact the lives of patients and their loved ones. The vast majority of individuals who develop an ADRD are age 65 or older, a population that is estimated to grow to 78 million in the United States by 2035.

Groundbreaking research at Penn Medicine led by Virginia M.Y. Lee, PhD, the John H. Ware III Professor in Alzheimer’s Research in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and the late John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, a former professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, pioneered three historic scientific discoveries in the field of neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases: the demonstration that tau is the major constituent of neurofibrillary tangles in AD, the discovery that Lewy bodies are comprised of alpha-synuclein, and the discovery that inclusions in FTLD and ALS are made of TDP-43 protein.

Source: https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2023/october/penn-receives-5-million-grant-for-dementia-treatment-research