My lab is looking for a new technician and/or postdoctoral fellow to join us! Many exciting projects on the molecular biology of amyloid beta and TDP-43. Please message or email.
Andrew Stern
@andrewmstern.bsky.social
Neurologist and Alzheimer disease scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. My lab studies beta-amyloid aggregates as they occur in human brain. Also TDP-43 biomarkers. Associate PD for research at MGB neurology residency program. sternlab.bwh.harvard.edu
Encouraged to see that the FY27 LHHS appropriations bill emerged from House subcommittee with a ~3% increase in NIH funding compared to FY26. But this needs to be more like 20% to make up for a decade of stagnation.
We found that Aβ fibrils at plaque edges form a complex with the U1 snRNP. U1-70k is the most-correlated insoluble protein with Aβ in AD. Previously thought to be intracellular in tangles, but we find it’s directly bound to Aβ. With @raflynn5.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Some progress toward a sensitive test for TDP-43 diseases. www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/new...
Ultrasensitive Test Detects Biomarkers for Specific Form of Dementia | Mass General Brigham
Mass General Brigham researchers combine expertise in neurology, pathology to make strides for patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
massgeneralbrigham.org
We were unable to find support for the claim that lecanemab binds a different, more soluble, human target than aducanumab and donanemab. Antibody preference for plaques vs CAA is unlikely to explain differences in ARIA-E rates. alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Anti‐amyloid antibody equilibrium binding to Aβ aggregates from human Alzheimer's disease brain
INTRODUCTION Lecanemab binds “protofibrils,” which are poorly characterized in human brain. It is unknown why lecanemab caused fewer amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIAs) than other antibodi.....
alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Do we grow wiser as we age? I spent 15+ years chasing glam journals, wasting time and energy (and frustrating my team and co-authors). I don’t want to wake up at 70 and realize my life went into convincing a few editors my work was trendy enough. Enough. I’ll try to be smarter.
My favorite NIH entity is the Council of Councils, which sounds like it might launch a war to defend Naboo.
Updating this graph for the holidays 🎁 (datapoints are a selection of journals publishing in neuroscience)
Introducing Nature Baubles, the latest addition to Nature Portfolio. open.substack.com/pub/andrewms...
Introducing Nature Baubles
Science has changed.
open.substack.com
Updates to the submission process for LOIs and grants requesting more than $500K in any budget periods. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-26-019: Updated Application Policies: NIH Administrative Burden Reduction Effort Removal of Requirements for Letters of Intent and Unsolicited Applications Requesting $500,000 or More in Dire...
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Updated Application Policies: NIH Administrative Burden Reduction Effort Removal of Requirements for Letters of Inten...
grants.nih.gov
I fully agree. The term LLPS is probably not the correct one to describe what happens in cells. However, the formation of dynamic low-order condensates driven by low affinity multivalent proteins (often highly disordered) seems to occur in cells.
Any cryoEM folks know what these strange zebra-stripe particles are in a prep from human brain?
Our study “Genetic and proteomic analysis identifies BAG3 as an amyloid‑responsive regulator of neuronal proteostasis" was published in Acta Neuropathologica this week! Congratulations to lead author Zach Augur, who will be defending his thesis later this week!! link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...
Genetic and proteomic analysis identifies BAG3 as an amyloid-responsive regulator of neuronal proteostasis
link.springer.com
Working with David Walt’s lab, here is a new tool we hope to develop into a diagnostic test for TDP-43 pathology, something we desperately need in cognitive neurology. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Digital seed amplification assay for TDP-43 aggregate quantification in CSF
INTRODUCTION Dementia is commonly caused by underlying pathologies driven by misfolded protein aggregates. Although dementia subtypes have distinct mechanisms, overlapping symptoms make diagnosis with...
medrxiv.org
Some poorly conceived thoughts on modern science. open.substack.com/pub/andrewms...
Simultanagnosia and scientific paradigms
This week, in our case rounds, one of our clinical fellows presented a classic case of posterior cortical atrophy, an atypical presentation of Alzheimer disease.
open.substack.com
My lab is hiring a postdoc to work on new TDP-43 biomarkers! Please get in touch and re-post!
BREAKING: Field makes inchwise progress over decades on intractable problem of dementia with interesting leads and blind alleys but smart people are doing their best and please don’t overinterpret their results because it takes a long time for a real breakthrough www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/06/m...
New hope for Alzheimer’s: Groundbreaking Harvard study finds lithium reverses brain aging - The Boston Globe
The research suggests a new approach to preventing and treating the mind-robbing disease.
bostonglobe.com
First highlight... Senator Capito started of the discussion saying that the bill contains AN INCREASE for NIH. The details are not available, but the bill will be released ofter the hearing. This is not a done-deal, but it does show where the Senate is on a bipartisan basis.
a cartoon of snoopy on a green background with the words `` great news ! ''
ALT: a cartoon of snoopy on a green background with the words `` great news ! ''
media.tenor.com
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · last yr.Happening Now! Mark-up of Labor, Health, and Human Services www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/ful...
My lab is hiring a postdoc to work on new TDP-43 biomarkers! Please get in touch and re-post!
New TYP lab publication led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! We present a reproducible neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-culture model to better reproduce intercellular interactions in Alzheimer's disease. Read more here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Astrocyte induction of disease-associated microglia is suppressed by acute exposure to fAD neurons in human iPSC triple cultures
Lish et al. present a co-culture system of iPSC-derived human microglia, astrocytes, and neurons to investigate intercellular communication across different environmental and genetic contexts. Transcr...
cell.com
Well said!
Sarah Ackley @sfackley.bsky.social · last yr.I was invited to comment for AlzForum on GLP-1s and dementia. GLP-1s show promise, but RCTs like GRADE have not demonstrated clear cognitive benefits. Observational studies may be confounded by socioeconomic factors and prescribing patterns. Read the full comment: www.alzforum.org/papers/gluco...
We studied the binding of clinical antibodies to human brain extracts and found no evidence that lecanemab binds a more soluble population of Abeta than aducanumab or donanemab, nor that binding preferences to CAA vs plaque explained different ARIA rates. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Anti-amyloid antibody equilibrium binding to Aβ aggregates from human Alzheimer disease brain
Importance: Anti-amyloid immunotherapy is used to treat Alzheimer disease (AD) with moderate benefits and potentially serious side effects due to amyloid related imaging abnormality with effusions/ede...
biorxiv.org
Thrilled to share my first first-author paper is out @cp-neuron.bsky.social! We show that Alzheimer's disease protective CLU alleles upregulate CLU in response to neuropathology, dampening inflammatory signaling between microglia and astrocytes. Read here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
CLU alleviates Alzheimer’s disease-relevant processes by modulating astrocyte reactivity and microglia-dependent synaptic density
Genetic studies implicate clusterin (CLU) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet its precise molecular impact remains unclear. Through u…
sciencedirect.com
Congratulations our newly-minted PhD candidate Olivia Pembridge on passing her PQE with flying colors today! Olivia will be using a wide array of iPSC and organoid models to study mechanisms of neurodevelopment!
If you're headed to #ADPD next week, be sure to stop by the TYP lab presentations by @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social and Zach Augur to learn about some of the amazing work the lab is doing!
Zach Augur will be presenting a poster during Shift 1 on April 2nd and 3rd titled "BAG3 IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND ITS IMPACT ON ASTROCYTE FUNCTION AND DISEASE PROGRESSION"
@gizemterzioglu.bsky.social will be presenting at the Microglia Symposium on the afternoon of April 4th! Her talk is titled "INPP5D/SHIP1 REGULATES MICROGLIA FUNCTION AND INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE"