WEBINAR SERIES—Science of Aging—Malignant Brain Aging: The Formidable Link to Neurodegeneration

July 28, 2021
11 a.m. EDT

Aging is a natural biological process that impacts vitality and function of cells, tissues, organs, systems, and the entire organism. Benign brain aging is associated with slower processing, reduced agility and resilience, and greater requirement for rest. For the most part, humans tolerate such declines in youthfulness because their capacity to enjoy life, engage in social discourse, remain physically active, and utilize perceptive and analytical thought processes are largely preserved. Unfortunately, a significant subset of the population experiences a malignant form of brain aging. The entire process accelerates and progresses to an extreme stage marked by losses in neuronal cell number, function, connectivity, and plasticity. This translates to impairments in thinking and mentation, analytical skills, capacity for normal social interactions, and ability to enjoy life and self-care. These are classical features of neurodegeneration. The pivotal factors that cause the brain to derail from a benign to malignant course of aging are unknown. Identifying ways to reverse the switch is one of the over-arching goals of brain science directed toward prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

In this webinar, Suzanne De La Monte, MD, MPH, from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, will show how malignant aging and attendant neurodegeneration are likely mediated by fundamental defects in insulin’s actions and aberrant cellular responses to insulin, mimicking the effects of diabetes mellitus. Since very similar processes drive malignant aging of other tissues, including skeletal muscle, it may be possible to develop universal strategies for the treatment and prevention of many aging-associated degenerative diseases..

Presenter

Suzanne De La Monte, MD, MPH, is a physician-scientist who directs basic and translational research in the laboratory. She also performs clinical service work in neuropathology and teaches residents and students. De La Monte’s research efforts are mainly focused on understanding the role of insulin and insulin-like growth factor resistance in relation to neurodegeneration caused by Alzheimer’s disease and chronic alcohol abuse.