Berkeley Lab
Neurodegenerative Diseases and Cognition
Jagust Lab - William Jagust
Research on cognition and neurodegeneration makes use of positron emission tomography (PET) with a number of different radiotracers that are aimed at understanding brain biochemistry and how biochemistry interacts with both brain structure and function in aging. Studies are ongoing looking at the deposition of beta-amyloid, the protein deposited in Alzheimer’s disease, in normal older subjects. Specifically, it is evaluated how this amyloid deposition affects brain structure, measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and memory function, with a view towards detecting signs of AD in normal healthy older people. Brain dopamine function is also studied using PET in both normal older people and in those with Parkinson’s disease with the goal of understanding how dopamine is related to working memory and brain function using functional MRI. These are just some of the studies designed to assess relationships between in vivo measures of biochemistry, structure, and function to understand the aging brain.
credit: Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt, photographer
XBD200809-00452-07.TIF
Neurodegenerative Diseases and Cognition
Jagust Lab - William Jagust
Research on cognition and neurodegeneration makes use of positron emission tomography (PET) with a number of different radiotracers that are aimed at understanding brain biochemistry and how biochemistry interacts with both brain structure and function in aging. Studies are ongoing looking at the deposition of beta-amyloid, the protein deposited in Alzheimer’s disease, in normal older subjects. Specifically, it is evaluated how this amyloid deposition affects brain structure, measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and memory function, with a view towards detecting signs of AD in normal healthy older people. Brain dopamine function is also studied using PET in both normal older people and in those with Parkinson’s disease with the goal of understanding how dopamine is related to working memory and brain function using functional MRI. These are just some of the studies designed to assess relationships between in vivo measures of biochemistry, structure, and function to understand the aging brain.
credit: Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt, photographer
XBD200809-00452-07.TIF