Cognitive resilience is mediated by the MEF2 network in mice and humans

Recent increases in human longevity have been accompanied by a rise in the incidence of dementia. While a large proportion of aged individuals display pathological hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease, a small number of these individuals are able to maintain healthy cognitive function even in the presence of extensive brain pathology. The molecular mechanisms that govern this neuro-protected state remain unknown, but individuals that exhibit cognitive resilience (CgR) represent a unique source of insight into potential therapies that could preserve brain function in the face of neurodegenerative disease. Here, we employ a two-pronged approach to dissect the mechanism underlying CgR. First, using multiple integrated repositories of clinical and brain transcriptomic data we identified individuals who maintained normal cognition despite harboring a large burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Barker, Scarlett J.V.(Scarlett Jazmine)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Li-Huei Tsai.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130809

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/130809