Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and Lewy Body Dementia Association Award Two Grants to Support

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) have awarded $100,000 each to Omar El-Agnaf, PhD, of United Arab Amirates University and Michelle Mielke, PhD, of Mayo Clinic Rochester to provide one year of support for their research projects focused on developing indicators, or biomarkers, for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Dementia with Lewy bodies is a progressive disease that leads to the decline in thinking, reasoning and function. Despite progress in understanding the underlying causes of the disease, there remains an urgent need to develop methods for diagnosis. Accurate diagnosis is essential in the clinical setting and to assure the efficiency of clinical trials and research. The ADDF and the LBDA selected Dr. El-Agnaf's and Dr. Mielke's programs due to their focus on developing the biomarkers which could aid in early detection.

Dr. El-Agnaf's research will explore using a combination of markers in the spinal fluid to discern DLB from Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson's disease disorders. Dr. Mielke's research will seek to identify blood-based biomarkers of alpha-synuclein pathology, a hallmark characteristic of DLB.