Michael Rowan (HRB/SFI), Claudio Cuello (CIHR), Martin Fuhrmann (DZNE),Michel Goedert (MRC) and Stefan Remy (DZNE)

The objective of the project is to generate as complete a model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as possible in the rat. "McGill-R-Thy1-APP" is a new rat model of AD that recapitulates one central aspect of Alzheimer's disease, the formation of amyloid beta (Aβ) protein deposits in the brain. This model will be further developed by incorporating additional aspects of the pathology, the formation of tau protein aggregates. The rat model will then be used to investigate the role of tau and Aβ in synaptic plasticity, network dysfunction and memory impairment in AD.