George Mason University

The nation’s aging baby boomers could bring the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease to an all-time high. Now, more than ever, researchers are looking for ways to detect and prevent Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.

“The incidence of Alzheimer’s is undergoing explosive growth,” says Raja Parasuraman, professor of psychology at Mason. “In an effort to control this rapid growth, a major approach has been to examine individuals who are not affected, but who have an increased genetic risk for developing the disease later in life.”

Parasuraman recently received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct such research. His program, “Apolipoprotein, Attention and Alzheimer's disease,” will annually test more than 500 middle-aged and older adults for four years using cognitive, genetic and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests to identify precursors of Alzheimer's disease.

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http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/10820/