VIRAL INFECTION AND ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE PATHOGENESIS

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, believed to affect more than 30 million people worldwide. It is an incurable neurodegenerative disease with an unknown etiology. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that virus infections could play an important role in AD development.

In this study, I will take an exploratory approach to study the role of neurotropic viruses in AD.

I hypothesize that virus infections induce an inflammatory environment in the brain, either by directly impacting neuronal cells or by triggering a pro-inflammatory T cell response that persists following the clearance of the infection.

I will apply cutting-edge immunology techniques, such as single cell RNA sequencing, cytokine release assays, and high-parameter flow cytometry, to compare antiviral T cell responses in individuals with AD compared to healthy controls, to determine if AD patients have a specific disease-associated T cell response.

In addition, I will use neuronal infection model systems to study the direct impact of virus infection on neuronal cells.

This study is expected to provide mechanistic insight into the association between virus infections and AD development and to identify vaccine and treatment targets to prevent or slow down AD disease progression.