Researchers at UTHealth Houston have secured $3.5 million in grants from the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC) to study Alzheimer's disease. The funding will support several projects aimed at understanding the disease's pathology and finding new treatment pathways.
The TARCC, a state-funded organization comprising 11 medical schools across Texas, aims to fund Alzheimer's-related projects within member institutions and promote collaborative efforts. Rodrigo Morales, PhD, professor of neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, serves as vice chair of the TARCC Steering Committee.
Among the funded researchers is Andrey Tsvetkov, PhD, who will investigate whether the ACSL4 gene plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease. Tatiana Barichello, PhD, will explore if delirium contributes to Alzheimer’s progression by promoting gut dysbiosis and neuroinflammation.
Rodney M. Ritzel, PhD, plans to study the role of biological aging in Alzheimer’s progression and whether senescent cells influence disease outcomes differently in males and females. Natalia Pessoa Rocha, PharmD, PhD, MSc, aims to validate mild behavioral impairment as an early diagnostic marker for Alzheimer’s using biochemical tests.
Salvatore Saieva, PhD, will examine ocular Aβ deposits to understand their role in Alzheimer’s onset and progression. Vijayasree V. Giridharan, PhD, MPharm's research focuses on how innate lymphoid cells might mitigate brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s.
Huihui Fan, MBBS, PhD, will use the TARCC cohort to uncover DNA methylation biomarkers in Hispanic patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Youngran Kim, PhD's study will assess how brexpiprazole affects Medicare patients with agitation related to Alzheimer’s.
Sithara Thomas, PhD's project investigates the vascular factors' role in Alzheimer's development and potential treatments targeting vascular functions. Keran Ma, PhD's research explores how variations in the TREM2 gene affect neuron-microglia communication and neuronal function.
Lastly, Vijay Kumar M.J. Rao's study focuses on reducing G4-DNA/RNA structures inside brain cells to slow aging processes that contribute to brain diseases.
The TARCC 2025 Scientific Symposium is scheduled for January 23 in Austin, Texas.
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