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: 30-Oct-2026 03:16 ET (30-Oct-2026 07:16 GMT/UTC)

A new vision: How Utah State bioengineering researchers are changing the outlook for aging eyes

Utah State University

Tissue engineers have developed a model to mimic the effects of aging to improve prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration and other age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.

Journal: GeroScience
Funder: BrightFocus Foundation

Researchers identify a key biological tipping point in Alzheimer’s disease

Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from VIB, KU Leuven, the UK-DRI and Muna Therapeutics have uncovered a critical biological transition that may determine whether Alzheimer’s disease pathology leads to dementia. Studying brain tissue from older adults with and without cognitive decline, as well as cognitively healthy centenarians, the team identified distinct cellular programs and immune-cell states associated with disease progression and resilience. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that changes in microglia—the brain’s resident immune cells—could represent an important target for future Alzheimer’s therapies.

Journal: Nature Medicine
Funder: Muna Therapeutics, VIB, KU Leuven, ERC, UK DRI, FWO, Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek

Air pollution may be harming your brain’s ‘encyclopedia’

University of California - Davis Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study finds higher long-term exposure to fine air pollution (PM2.5) is linked to lower semantic memory — the type of memory used for facts, words and general knowledge.

Journal: Alzheimer s & Dementia Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging

Allen Institute launches Brain Health Accelerator to transform our understanding of brain disorders and develop new treatments

Allen Institute
Business Announcement

The Allen Institute, together with partner organizations, today launched the Brain Health accelerator (Brain Health): an ambitious global research initiative seeking to identify the specific brain cells and circuits affected in neurodegenerative disease and other brain disorders and use that knowledge to accelerate the development of new treatments.

Funder: Fund for Science and Technology

New reference map of the brain may transform how scientists detect disease

Keck School of Medicine of USC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have created one of the largest reference models ever developed for the human brain, using diffusion MRI scans from more than 54,000 people to chart how the brain’s communication pathways develop, mature, and decline across the lifespan, as reported in Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Alzheimer's Association, European Research Council, Wellcome Trust

Gladstone investigator Andrew Yang receives 2026 Sobrato Prize in Neuroscience

Gladstone Institutes
Grant and Award Announcement

This year’s recipient of the Sobrato Prize in Neuroscience is Andrew Yang, PhD, whose research has reshaped scientific understanding of the blood-brain barrier and its role in brain health and disease. Yang is an investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and an assistant professor of neurology and anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. Launched in 2024, the Sobrato Prize in Neuroscience seeks to bridge the gap between discovery and the clinic, accelerating life-changing brain science with high potential for patient impact. It is awarded to scientists at Gladstone Institutes whose research has a particularly high potential to lead to new therapies for major brain diseases.

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