On Sunday, the Alzheimer’s Association kicks off its international conference and there’s already buzz about a blood test that is between 85% and 90% accurate in identifying Alzheimer’s disease. Having an easy blood test could be game changing. Right now, the only way to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is with a costly PET scan or an invasive spinal puncture.

June is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. We visit Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to meet three people at the forefront of researching, patient advocacy, and treatment. They share what medications are currently available for patients and what they are learning about the disease. They also share information for the many people caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.

Right now, Nevada has the third-fastest rate of growth for Alzheimer’s disease. Between now and 2025, the number of Nevadans with dementia is expected to grow almost 31% from 49,000 to 64,000.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and according to a report released in April by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the mental health issues that adolescents had already been experiencing.

Since the early 2000s, the advances in biomarker testing have allowed clinicians to detect and diagnose Alzheimer disease (AD) and other related dementias more accurately. Given that no single biomarker test alone has been proven to diagnose the condition, the available biomarkers are often used in conjunction. While biomarkers have become an important part of research and hold critical value in the future of AD drug development, there has been no consensus as to which biomarkers hold the most value.

Recently, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), announced a newly awarded grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund phase 2 of their first Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), the Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience (CNTN). The grant, totaling $11.3 million, will be used towards developing the resources and processes necessary to achieve a long-term sustainable neuroscience research infrastructure.

Home to a shiny school of medicine and a developing “medical district,” Southern Nevada has bolstered its medical bona fides in recent years. For researcher Samantha John, the region’s diverse population was another key element drawing her here.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a grant expected to total $11.3 million to fund phase 2 of southern Nevada’s first Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE): The Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience (CNTN). The funding will allow for an additional five years of continued collaboration between Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to enhance neuroscience research infrastructure in southern Nevada. The award is co-led by Aaron Ritter, M.D., of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Jefferson Kinney, Ph.D. of the Department of Brain Health at UNLV.