EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Alzheimer's Awareness Month

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

In honor of Alzheimer's Awareness Month, we’re exploring the science and stories surrounding Alzheimer’s disease.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 7-Sep-2025 01:11 ET (7-Sep-2025 05:11 GMT/UTC)

2-Sep-2025

Alzheimer’s erodes brain cells’ control of gene expression, undermining function, cognition

Picower Institute at MIT
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new MIT study in Cell of 3.5 million cells from more than 100 human brains finds that Alzheimer’s progression—but also resilience to disease—depends on preserving epigenomic stability.

Journal: Cell
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Cure Alzheimer's Fund, Freedom Together Foundation

2-Sep-2025

Early Alzheimer’s brainwave test detects memory decline years before diagnosis

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A simple brainwave test developed at the University of Bath has been shown to detect signs of memory impairment linked to Alzheimer’s disease years before clinical diagnosis is typically possible.

Journal: Brain Communications
Funder: Academy of Medical Sciences, BRACE

2-Sep-2025

Scientists investigate why memory circuits break down in Alzheimer’s disease

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

With support from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientists Sharon Swanger and Shannon Farris are working to solve Alzheimer's mystery.

Funder: Virginia Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund

1-Sep-2025

Rare seasonal brain shrinkage in shrews is driven by water loss, not cell death

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Water cure: study found that common shrews shrink their brains in winter not by losing cells, but by losing water

Brain scans: team used MRI scanning, the same technology used in hospitals, to peer inside the brains of live shrews across seasons

What humans can learn: brain shrinkage in humans is typically a sign of disease, like Alzheimer’s. But shrews can shrink their brain without compromising function or causing damage. Shrews could become a model system for exploring potential pathways for medical treatment of human brain disease

Journal: Current Biology

29-Aug-2025

The gut immune system is altered in mouse model of Alzheimer’s, providing a new target for therapeutics

Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The gut contains the largest collection of immune cells in the body. New research at the Buck Institute shows that some of those immune cells travel along the brain/gut axis in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) providing a potential new therapeutic pathway for the memory-robbing malady. The research, published in the August29, 2025 issue of Cell Reports, also shows that feeding the mice a high fiber diet reduces AD-related frailty, including tremor.

Journal: Cell Reports
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

28-Aug-2025

The brain's activity at rest may provide clues to Alzheimer's disease progression, diagnosis

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Some regions of the brain in people with Alzheimer's reorganize more often while at rest than in people without the disease––and in healthy people this frequent reshuffling sometimes predicts who will develop the condition later, according to a new study from the University of Michigan and Columbia University.

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
Funder: National Institutes of Health, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation