Alzheimer’s Researchers Look at an Unusual Data Point: Head Shape

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that gradually deteriorates a person’s cognitive abilities, including thinking and memory, and begins in specific regions of the brain. Frank Provenzano, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Department of Neurology and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, partnered with John Crary, MD, PhD, a neuropathologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, to investigate by conducting a study whether the brain’s geometry may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Crary shared with Dr. Provenzano his theory that years of subtle movement and impact in a brain region where soft tissue meets harder structures could help explain why Alzheimer’s first takes hold in the entorhinal cortex.

“As a biomedical engineer, I’m kind of like a rhinoceros to a fire. I have to put it out,” Dr. Provenzano said. “I was like, ‘John, this is outstanding — we can address this.’” [read more]

Source: The New York Times

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