Gabor Petzold (Germany) and Danica Stanimirovic (Canada)

Perturbation of cerebral blood flow and the blood brain barrier are prominent features of Alzheimer's disease. The central hypothesis of this project is that these changes directly affect the transport of amyloid-β, a peptide centrally involved in AD initiation and progression, across the blood brain barrier, leading to increased accumulation of amyloid-β in the brain. We aim to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for this imbalance of amyloid-β trafficking in mouse models of AD, vascular dementia and mixed dementia (i.e. vascular dementia and AD). Finally, we will also investigate whether pharmacological intervention specifically targeting Aβ trafficking can be therapeutically beneficial in these models.