Cracking the code to Alzheimer's

So. This is part of what has been keeping me busy at The Scripps Research Institute. One of the areas of research my lab is exploring, is how inflammation caused by a few key molecules may contribute to amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is the process that leads to the pathology associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Pictured left are the type of images I am trying to produce in the lab. The top is a healthy brain free of amyloid deposits. The bottom is a diseased brain riddled with amyloid. There are various ways to detect amyloid deposits in brain tissue using histology, which I have become very familiar with over the last several months. This is one method using a fluorescent compound that binds to the unwanted proteins that accumulate in the brain and begin to cause the various symptoms associated with the disease.

This is just one of the few projects that's keeping me busy at the moment. People always ask me what I do, and rarely can I articulate in an interesting way some of the day to day work that goes on in the lab. Here's an attempt. Enjoy.

Post Script: This filled my day today and just a small step in grand scheme of this project. (making sure you have the right mice before you start the proposed study...ty kujo, PCR was a breeze.)