Keynote speech：Alzheimer’s disease: What we know and what we do not know

Speaker: Prof. Yong Shen （University of Science and Technology of China）

Dr. Shen is the founding director of the Neurodegenerative Disorder Research Center and Brain Bank of The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Dr. Shen is also the founding director of the Institute on Aging and Brain Disorders at the First Affiliated Hospital of the USTC. 

 Dr. Shen has received a number of honors and rewards including Zenith Awards from Alzheimer’s Association and Outstanding Contributor to Alzheimer Research from Society for Neuroscience as well Rudolf Magnus Outstanding Youth Fellowship of Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences. 

 Dr. Shen is one of early scholars studying neuroinflammatory mechanisms of AD and he is also one of first to discover that elevation of enzymatic activity of of beta-secretase  (BACE1) in the brain with sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Shen and his group have done a series of important discoveries in BACE1 and neuroimmune mechanisms of AD. In addition, Dr. Shen is also an active researcher in the development of early diagnostic biomarkers for AD precision diagnosis. Since Dr. Shen was back to China and joined USTC, Dr. Shen continues his great efforts in studying neuroimmune and neurovascular mechanisms of AD while he has built up cohort of China Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorder Initiative (CANDI) and a community cohort of Hefei Aging Study (HAS). In 2016, Dr. Shen was selected as Chief Scientist and Chair of Scientific Committee of Major Project on Aging Degenerative Study by Natural and Science Foundation of China and the PI for frontier major project on “Biological basis of aging” by Chinese Academy of Sciences.

 

Abstract： Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that accounts for over 70% of all dementia. The patient initially develops cognitive impairment and mental symptoms, gradually worsening to complete loss of cognitive ability and inability to take care of themselves. The typical pathological feature of AD is Ab deposited protein and forming plaques in the brain, and neuronal fiber tangles formed by excessive phosphorylation of tau protein within neurons. In addition, excessive activation of glial cells in the brain, as well as neuronal loss, are also the pathological hall markers of AD. Therefore, the main pathogenesis of AD includes the hypothesis of amyloid plaques, tau protein, and chronic inflammation. However, in recent years, whether vascular disease, especially cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) has become a hot topic in the field. Recently, we and other laboratories around the world have discovered that cerebrovascular diseases may be one of the important causes of Alzheimer's disease, but the exact mechanism that drives these changes in these small blood vessels in the brain is still not fully understood. Professor Shen Yong not only introduces some major hypotheses and advances in the field of AD, the progress of drug targets, but also focuses on how cerebral small vessel lesions contribute/cause neurodegeneration in AD. He will share some new and exciting progress of AD research in his laboratory.