Dr. Costantino Iadecola

A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers helps explain why having ApoE4—the gene variant most closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease—increases the risk of neurodegeneration and white matter damage. 

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have found that controlling high blood pressure may not be enough to prevent associated cognitive declines. The findings point to an immune protein called cytokine IL-17 as a culprit for inducing dementia and suggest new approaches to prevent damage to brain cells.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have demonstrated how amyloid beta, a peptide associated with Alzheimer’s disease, can interact with a protein receptor on immune cells in the brain triggering a reaction that damages blood vessels and leads to neurodegeneration. 

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the month of May. 

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director and chair of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded the 2021 Basic Research Prize from the American Heart Association (AHA).

On its face, the logic seems straightforward. Eating too much salt can lead to high blood pressure; numerous studies have shown that having hypertension in midlife makes it more likely that you’ll develop certain forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in later years.

Last spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City with full force, Dr. Daniel MacGowan, a neurologist specializing in neuromuscular disease, was asked to consult in a COVID recovery ward.

Neurological complications ranging from headache, malaise and loss of smell to confusion and disabling strokes have been a disturbing consequence of COVID-19.

Abnormal forms of a brain-cell protein called tau, which have long been implicated in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, may contribute to neurodegeneration earlier than was previously understood, by interfering with the normal dynamics of blood flow in the brain.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been recognized as a 2019 Distinguished Scientist by the American Heart Association for his outstanding contributions to cardiovascular, stroke and dementia research.

A high-salt diet may negatively affect cognitive function by causing a deficiency of the compound nitric oxide, which is vital for maintaining vascular health in the brain, according to a new study in mice from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. 

Dr. Hagen Tilgner is exploring how faulty building instructions for brain cells may give rise to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and more

Medical conditions and health habits that affect blood flow in the brain—or cerebrovascular risk factors—are associated with a subsequent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the month of February.

A protein linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and a form of dementia increases the risk of cognitive impairment by reducing the number and responsiveness of blood vessels in the organ.

A high-salt diet reduces resting blood flow to the brain and causes dementia in mice, according to a new study by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine.

Advances in scientific innovation are leading to powerful discoveries about Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases, sparking hope for the development of new treatment and therapies for the conditions.

By studying the effects of immune cells that surround blood vessels in the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have discovered a new pathway involving these cells that may contribute to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

With a state-of-the-art mobile unit and pioneering research, Weill Cornell Medicine is at the vanguard of treating stroke patients — for whom ‘time is brain’

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Anne...