Neurodegenerative Disease Research Funded

The potential of a hormone released during exercise to help manage neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s will be studied further, thanks to the support of donors Alan and Janice Woll. 

A new gift from the Wolls facilitates research by postdoctoral fellow Sarah Terrill, Ph.D., under the mentorship of Christine Dengler-Crish, Ph.D., and Sheila Fleming, Ph.D., in the Neurodegenerative Disease and Aging Research Group. “This research will build upon preliminary work conducted by these investigators on how irisin, a hormone released during exercise, may therapeutically reduce Alzheimer’s-related brain pathology,” said Dr. Dengler-Crish.

“Dr. Terrill will work to advance the understanding of how irisin and exercise reduces the accumulation of pathological tau protein in the brain, which is not only a problem experienced by Alzheimer’s patients, but also those with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.” 

Read more about this research and the Woll family’s support of it in the Spring 2020 issue of Ignite magazine.