Mission

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In today's world, our lifestyle choices, such as diet, stress management, and physical activity, can significantly impact our physical and cognitive health over time. As the global population ages, understanding how these lifestyle factors affect our brain health has come to the forefront of scientific research.

A key player in maintaining our cognitive well-being is physical exercise. The benefits of this activity extend far beyond the body, impacting the brain in ways we're just beginning to understand. This suggests that the body and brain are not separate but interlinked systems, where changes in one can significantly affect the other.

This connection is particularly evident in the context of Alzheimer's disease, a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that leads to progressive memory loss, cognitive decline, and impairment of daily activities. Despite Alzheimer's disease becoming increasingly prevalent globally, effective treatments are still limited, and diagnosis remains a significant challenge.

In the De Felice Lab, our mission is to improve lives by deepening our understanding of Alzheimer's disease, finding ways to detect it earlier, and exploring potential preventative measures. We believe in a world where aging does not mean losing our memory or cognitive abilities, and each discovery we make takes us one step closer to that goal.

Physical exercise and its impact on the human body are well-known - it helps maintain healthy body weight, enhances cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, and even uplifts mood. But the benefits of exercise stretch beyond these visible effects. In the De Felice Lab, we're particularly interested in how physical activity influences our brain's health, specifically in the context of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Recent research has shown that physical exercise might help delay or slow down the effects of AD. When we exercise, our body releases a hormone called irisin. Intriguingly, this molecule appears to play a vital role in maintaining brain health.

Our lab has found that irisin could improve brain health and memory in animal models of AD. Essentially, we observed that exercise increases the levels of irisin in the brain. Increased irisin, in turn, improves synaptic plasticity - the brain's ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury. This improvement in synaptic plasticity helps boost memory and cognitive abilities.

We're now focusing on understanding how irisin achieves this. Our goal is to unearth the detailed mechanisms through which physical exercise, via irisin, may counteract AD, offering new therapeutic avenues and strategies for early intervention.

Through this research, we hope to provide more robust scientific backing for exercise as a preventive strategy against AD. We're not just aiming for a longer life, but a healthier brain in our later years. 

One of the greatest challenges in tackling Alzheimer's disease is detecting it early. Symptoms often appear when the disease has already progressed significantly, making treatments less effective. This is why our lab is intensely investigating innovative strategies for early detection, specifically through the analysis of blood samples.

In our bodies, cells continuously communicate with each other to maintain proper function and health. A crucial part of this communication involves tiny packages called extracellular vesicles (EVs). These microscopic bubbles are released by cells and travel through our bloodstream, carrying proteins, lipids, and various types of RNA - all of which provide valuable information about the state of the cells they originated from.

Remarkably, changes in the composition of EVs have been linked to various diseases, including Alzheimer's. They act as the biological 'mail' system, and if we can 'read' this mail, we can gain insights into what is happening in the body, including the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Our lab are studying EVs derived from the neurons that circulate in the blood. We believe that specific changes in these brain-derived EVs might occur in the early stages of Alzheimer's. These changes could potentially serve as early biomarkers of the disease - signals that the disease is starting to take hold before symptoms have even surfaced.

We're using highly sensitive detection methods to analyze these EVs, aiming to identify changes in their cargo that could flag Alzheimer's disease. Our ultimate goal is to develop a blood test for Alzheimer's that is not only highly reliable but also minimally invasive and easily accessible.

Imagine being able to predict the risk of Alzheimer's disease through a routine blood test. This could revolutionize how we approach Alzheimer's, providing a crucial window for early intervention and potentially changing the trajectory of the disease. That's the future we're working towards on this project.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has revealed numerous unexpected challenges and areas of concern, including the potential long-term effects on our brain health. Emerging research from our lab and others worldwide has begun to shed light on a possible connection between COVID-19 and Alzheimer's disease.

Firstly, it is essential to understand that COVID-19 is not just a respiratory illness. The virus can affect many different systems in the body, including the central nervous system. It's not uncommon for those who've had COVID-19 to report a range of neurological symptoms such as confusion, loss of smell and taste, and brain fog even after they've recovered from the acute phase of the disease. This phenomenon, often called 'Long COVID,' has spurred research into its potential long-term effects on the brain.

While the mechanisms are not fully understood, preliminary findings suggest that the virus may contribute to neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier disruption, processes that have been linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. It's also been observed that some individuals who have had severe COVID-19 show signs of accelerated cognitive decline, even if they didn't have Alzheimer's disease before their COVID-19 diagnosis.

It's important to note that research in this area is ongoing, and much is yet to be understood. Our lab is committed to exploring this possible connection between COVID-19 and Alzheimer's disease to help those at an increased risk due to their COVID-19 history. Through this work, we hope to contribute to global understanding and develop strategies to minimize the potential neurological impacts of COVID-19.