Professor William Jagust, MD, Professor of public health and neuroscience at UC Berkeley, discusses the development of Alzheimer’s in the aging brain and the challenges in developing effective treatments.
In 1907, when German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer published his trailblazing research paper describing an “unusual disease of the cerebral cortex,” it was still a relatively rare affliction.
Now, 117 years later, Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, has become so prevalent that an estimated 6.7 million Americans over the age of 65 are currently living with this debilitating neurodegenerative condition.
In this month’s First Friday Forum speaker series, sponsored by the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church (LOPC), Dr. William Jagust, professor of Public Health and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley, will discuss the distinction between dementia and Alzheimer’s, the development of the disease and the challenges in finding effective treatments.
Jagust’s talk on April 5, entitled “Untangling Alzheimer’s,” references the neurofibrillary tangles that result from the damaged protein – tau – that causes neurons to wither and die in the aging brain.
A true pioneer in his field, Jagust came to study Alzheimer’s almost by default: After completing his medical training in neurology, he was keen to research how people recover from strokes, but his superior told him, in no uncertain terms, that he must first investigate dementia.
It was the best decision he ever made. Calling himself “an extremely fortunate fellow,” Jagust said, “I think in your career you’re lucky if you hit the zeitgeist once.”
“And I hit it twice,” he added.
Although he calls it pure luck that he was involved in dementia research when Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning was “hot” and again when Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) made large strides, he admits that you have to “pay attention, realize what’s happening around you and take advantage of luck.”
In the early days of Alzheimer research, funding was always a problem.
Although the budget allocated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was gradually rising, it was still only about one-tenth of the amount given to cancer research. But beginning in 2015, Jagust said, there was “a really remarkable transition,” when the budget rose six-fold in about seven years to the point where it is now around $3.5 billion per year.
“It’s changed the Alzheimer’s disease field enormously,” he said.
“I’m an optimist,” Jagust told dementia researchers Dr. Michael Schöll and Dr. Ross Paterson in a 2022 interview, “and I do really believe we’re very close to a point where we’re going to have effective therapies.”
With so many breakthroughs on the horizon, the two doctors asked whether we should all be signing up for brain scans once we turn 50.
“Heck no,” laughed Jagust. “Get some exercise, eat well, get plenty of sleep and don’t drink too much.”
The First Friday Forum takes place at 1:30 p.m. on April 5 in the sanctuary of LOPC at 49 Knox Dr., Lafayette. Contact lopc.org/first-friday-forum/ to sign up for in-person attendance, register to stream via Zoom or to enjoy previous presentations.
