This Week in Photos: Alzheimer's Research

A picture of a student transferring an opaque substance into a gel box in a neuroscience lab serves as inspiration for this week’s photo series.

Alzheimer’s disease research is being performed in Visiting Assistant Professor Monica Mariani’s neuroscience lab. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the immune response to Alzheimer's in order to discover novel avenues of treatment to improve the disease’s pathology. On this particular day, neuroscience major Elly Ragone ’23 and neuroscience and engineering double-major Shawn Ho ’24 are performing PCR and DNA electrophoresis. 

After filling the wells of a gel box with DNA and gel red the rig is hooked up to a voltage system. The group watches for nearly thirty minutes as DNA particles pass through an electric field. Moments later, the rig is removed from its power source and the group takes a short walk down the hall to use a gel documentation system in Associate Professor of Neuroscience Tracie Paine’s laboratory. Today’s experiment is deemed a success after it is determined which DNA samples had the genes for Alzheimer's disease and which did not. As research progresses, the the group determines if cannabidiol oil (CBD) can suppress immune cell inflammation in the brain and reduce Alzheimer's plaques.