By Nicolette Calcavecchia
On Monday, May 22, 2023, National Institutes of Healthâs Andrew Singleton, PhD presented at the University of Pennsylvania as the Institute on Agingâs (IOA) 2023 Vincent J. Cristofalo Annual Lecturer.

Dr. Singleton focused his lecture on the importance of collaborative science in neurodegenerative disease research with a special emphasis on two models of this approach, the NIHâs Center for Alzheimerâs Disease and Related Dementias (CARD) and the Global Parkinsonâs Genetics Program (GP2). Dr. Singleton is heavily involved with both CARD, serving as the Director of the center, and GP2, serving as the Lead of the Complex Disease Network.
âBoth CARD…
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By Nicolette Calcavecchia
The Alzheimerâs Associationâs AAIC Neuroscience Next (AAIC NN) conference showcases the work of students, postdoctoral researchers and early career research professionals in cognitive, computational, behavioral, and other areas of neuroscience research.
As part of this conference, the University of Pennsylvania hosted a series of events organized in part by IOA Co-director Eddie Lee, MD, PhD. The day centered around a âResearch Retrospectiveâ, a live interview with Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, to share stories from her career and key scientific advances of her work in the field of neurodegenerative disease research. The interview was moderated by Isabel Castanho, PhD, a…
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By Nicolette Calcavecchia
During his recent visit to the University of Pennsylvania, IOA Visiting Scholar Gagan Wig, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas (UT), Dallas, and UT Southwestern Medical Center, discussed his work in both healthy aging and pathological aging.
Dr. Wig and his colleagues use neuroimaging to study the processes of both healthy and pathological aging, and in particular, they focus on trying to understand how brain networks change over time and how they relate to cognitive decline both in health and in disease.
"As…
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By Nicolette Calcavecchia
Michael Haney, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, recently visited the University of Pennsylvania to present an Institute on Aging Visiting Scholar Series lecture on Functional Genomics of Neuroimmune Interactions in Alzheimerâs Disease and Aging.
Much of Dr. Haney's work focuses on diseases of the aging brain, such as Alzheimerâs disease, with a particular focus on neuroimmunology and the reaction that microglia have in the aging brain. His lab has found that the APOE gene -- the genetic risk factor for Alzheimerâs disease -- can contribute to the accumulation of pro-inflammatory structures known as lipid droplets…
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By Nicolette Calcavecchia
Congratulations to IOA Co-Director, Eddie Lee, MD, PhD, on being inducted into the “Pluto Society” -- also known as The American Association of University Pathologists -- at their annual meeting last month. The "Pluto Society" is an honor society recognizing investigative pathologists with significant contributions to the understanding of the pathologic basis of disease.
Dr. Lee's research involves using advanced molecular, biochemical and histologic techniques to analyze brain tissue in study the molecular pathways associated with neuropathologic inclusions in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, and Trauma-Related Neurodegeneration.
Learn more about his work here.
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