Knight Initiative News

Researchers at Stanford’s Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience merge spatial transcriptomics and AI to uncover how local cellular interactions drive brain aging and resilience

Kalogriopoulos NA, Tei R, Yan Y, Klein PM, Ravalin M, Cai B, Soltesz I, Li Y, Ting A.

New research shows aging is not a uniform process. Parts of our bodies start aging earlier than others, right down to our organs and cells.

With Knight Initiative support, Stanford researchers uncover a biochemical “off-ramp” in ketosis, rewriting our understanding of how ketosis influences metabolism.

Moya-Garzon MD, Wang M, Li VL, Lyu X, Wei W, Tung AS, Raun SH, Zhao M, Coassolo L, Islam H, Oliveira B, Dai Y, Spaas J, Delgado-Gonzalez A, Donoso K, Alvarez-Buylla A, Franco-Montalban F, Letian A, Ward CP, Liu L, Svensson KJ, Goldberg EL, Gardner CD, Little JP, Banik SM, Xu Y, Long JZ.

Roth RH, Muniak MA, Huang CJ, Hwang FJ, Sun Y, Min C, Mao T, Ding JB.

Held RG, Liang J, Esquivies L, Khan YA, Wang C, Azubel M, Brunger AT.

Ghoochani A, Heiby JC, Rawat ES, Medoh UN, Di Fraia D, Dong W, Gastou M, Nyame K, Laqtom NN, Gomez-Ospina N, Ori A, Abu-Remaileh M.

The Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience supports 14 high-risk, high-reward projects to advance brain health and resilience research, fostering bold research across various scientific disciplines.

This week on From Our Neurons to Yours, we talk with Stanford neurologist Mike Greicius about his critique of new amyloid-clearing Alzheimer's drugs, and his optimism for the next wave of therapies currently in development.

Moya-Garzon MD, Wang M, Li VL, Lyu X, Wei W, Tung AS, Raun SH, Zhao M, Coassolo L, Islam H, Oliveira B, Dai Y, Spaas J, Delgado-Gonzalez A, Donoso K, Alvarez-Buylla A, Franco-Montalban F, Letian A, Ward C, Liu L, Svensson KJ, Goldberg EL, Gardner CD, Little JP, Banik SM, Xu Y, Long JZ.

Study in mice, supported by the Knight Initiative, suggests that an experimental cancer drug boosted brain metabolism, restored memory, and improved Alzheimer's symptoms. This novel approach may offer a new way to treat Alzheimer's beyond targeting amyloid plaques.

Blocking the kynurenine pathway, a regulator of brain metabolism, can restore cognitive function in lab mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The pathway is overactivated in Alzheimer’s, disrupting glucose metabolism and starving neurons of energy.

Minhas PS, Jones JR, Latif-Hernandez A, Sugiura Y, Durairaj AS, Wang Q, Mhatre SD, Uenaka T, Crapser J, Conley T, Ennerfelt H, Jung YJ, Liu L, Prasad P, Jenkins BC, Ay YA, Matrongolo M, Goodman R, Newmeyer T, Heard K, Kang A, Wilson EN, Yang T, Ullian EM, Serrano GE, Beach TG, Wernig M, Rabinowitz JD, Suematsu M, Longo FM, McReynolds MR, Gage FH, Andreasson KI.

The APOE4 genetic variant, carried by about 20% of people, significantly raises Alzheimer’s risk. But should we boost the gene’s potency or suppress it? A recent discovery by Knight Initiative affiliate, Mike Greicius, may provide the answers we need.

Taylor CA, Maor-Nof M, Metzl-Raz E, Hidalgo A, Yee C, Gitler AD, Shen K.