Today@Dal

HALIFAX — After 20 years of researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Sultan Darvesh says he’s reached a major milestone.

“We could have given up many, many years ago, for a wide variety of reasons,” says the Dalhousie University researcher. “And, I’m glad that we didn’t. And so, when you hit a home run, you know how exciting that is.”

Darvesh, and his team at the Maritime Brain Tissue Bank have adapted a molecule that holds tantalizing promise.

It sticks to proteins in the brain that are thought to be responsible for Alzheimer’s Disease.

This gives them a better tool to diagnose Alzheimer’s with certainty — something that currently can’t be done until a patient dies.

Their latest laboratory results, published in this month’s Journal of Nuclear Medicine, are the clearest indication to date the test works.

“That is a huge milestone because that has been an enormously difficult thing to do. This is the first time that this has been accomplished.”

Much of Darvesh’s research using brain tissue, donated by families whose loved ones suffered from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Read more (http://globalnews.ca/news/2536266/halifax-researchers-hit-huge-milestone-in-trying-to-detect-alzheimers-disease/)