Xiaoting Jia holds up an example of the embedded fiber the team would use in its research. Credit: Peter Means for Virginia Tech.
Key points:
- The National Institutes of Health awarded Xiaoting Jia, professor at Virginia Tech, a high priority, short-term grant to study Alzheimer’s disease.
- Jia and her collaborators will develop a new deep brain, multipurpose fiber to study Alzheimer’s biomarkers, including amyloid plaques in the hippocampus.
- Using the fiber to image neuroactivity and then deliver electrical pulses or anti-amyloid drugs has the potential to re-establish blood flow and oxygenation to dead neurons to restore memory.
The National Institutes of Health awarded Xiaoting Jia, professor at Virginia Tech, a high priority, short-term grant to study Alzheimer’s disease.
Jia has partnered with two other researchers—Harald Sontheimer of University of Virginia and Song Hu of Washington University in St. Louis—to develop a new deep brain, multipurpose fiber that can slow down or reverse memory loss.
“What we are doing here together is creating a device with which we can visualize the build up of biomarkers that are culprits of Alzheimer’s disease,” explained Sontheimer.
The team will have one year to build their minimally invasive, long-term fiber to study biomarkers in the hippocampus. The long-lasting fiber has a flexible polymer platform that will allow for little to no damage of brain tissue, meaning people will face fewer complicated surgeries and have more time with their families.
Their research will focus on the relationship between amyloid plaque buildup and the onset of symptoms. Jia will thermally draw a multifunctional fiber for electrical stimulation and drug delivery. Hu’s dual-mode endoscope will go in the fiber’s core to capture brain images, while Sontheimer will develop the fiber’s chronic implantation and monitor its biocompatibility.
The first goal is to use the endoscope to image neuroactivity, initial stages of amyloid deposition, and blood flow in vessels. From there, they will deliver electrical pulses and anti-amyloid drugs in an attempt to re-establish blood flow and oxygenation to dead neurons.
“This is a very ambitious goal,” said Jia. “The brain is very nuanced with more than 80 billion neurons, and we’re still behind on fully understanding how the brain functions and how diseases are formed.”
The researchers are hopeful that their technology has the possibility to restore memory and improve the quality of life for those impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.