Kaddurah-Daouk secures $12 million grant to advance brain health research
Grant and Award Announcement
In honor of Alzheimer's Awareness Month, we’re exploring the science and stories surrounding Alzheimer’s disease.
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Oct-2026 20:16 ET (23-Oct-2026 00:16 GMT/UTC)
Rima Kaddurah-Daouk, PhD, professor and chair in the Department of Precision Behavioral Health at UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, has secured a five-year, $12 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to investigate how changes in the brain’s energy supply affect memory, mood, and Alzheimer’s disease risk, and explore treatments and lifestyle strategies that could help people maintain brain health as they age.
Scientists at the University of Bath (UK) have produced a new azulene-based fluorescent probe that is five times brighter than the original molecule. Their research has uncovered the tiny molecular changes needed to transform both the colour and brightness of the probes, paving the way for more powerful imaging tools for detecting diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and cancer.
Nuclear medicine is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, helping clinicians visualise the biological changes associated with the condition and guide decisions about new therapies. Amyloid PET imaging is being used to confirm the presence of amyloid pathology and support treatment decisions for patients receiving anti-amyloid drugs, while tau PET scans can provide additional information about disease progression and prognosis. At the 39th Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM’26), taking place from 17 to 21 October in Vienna, experts will discuss first experiences with these PET scans in routine clinical use and explore the latest advances in nuclear medicine.