4|26|2010 NIH Grant for Alzheimer's study
SIUE Asst. Professor Receives Grant To Study New Drugs For Alzheimer's
(EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.) A $250,000 National Institutes of Health grant will help an assistant professor in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy study the effectiveness of new drugs in treating Alzheimer's disease.
The funding will be available from now until 2011 for Ken Witt, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science. Witt will investigate the use of novel drugs to encourage the breakdown of amyloid beta accumulation. This accumulation is associated with a reduction or reversal in the ability to learn, as well as memory loss that is characteristic with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that diminishes patients' memories and cognitive abilities. The disease progression is due to the dysfunction and death of neurons as a result of the amyloid beta accumulation.