Get the latest tech news
AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer’s and identify a therapeutic candidate
A new study found that a gene recently recognized as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease is actually a cause of it, due to its previously unknown secondary function that triggers a pathway that disrupts how cells in the brain turn genes on and off.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego used artificial intelligence to help both unravel this mystery of Alzheimer’s disease and discover a potential treatment that obstructs the gene’s moonlighting role. And treatment responses are not outstanding at this moment,” said study senior author Sheng Zhong, a professor in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. A year ago, that project revealed a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease: a widespread imbalance in the brain in the process where cells control which genes are turned on and off to carry out their specific roles.
Or read this on Hacker News
