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| Colette Cywes-Bentley, PhD |
Colette Cywes-Bentley, PhD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases, received the Alzheimer’s Research Grant from the IDSA Foundation for her project, “The Role for Pathogen-Expressed PNAG in Alzheimer’s Disease.”
The IDSA Foundation, in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Germ Quest Inc., recognizes innovative researchers who seek to clarify the potential link between an infectious agent and Alzheimer’s disease.
Cywes-Bentley, one of two recipients of the $50,000 seed grant, will collaborate with Gerald Pier, PhD, also of Infectious Diseases, and Junying Yuan, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, to identify a connection between bacterial exposure and inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. Using poly-N-acetyl glucosamine (PNAG) — a highly conserved polysaccharide on the surface of bacteria — as a marker, they aspire to identify the role of bacteria in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
The IDSA Foundation is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the burden of infectious diseases through research, education and advocacy. Alzheimer’s Germ Quest is a public-benefit organization with a mission to accelerate scientific investigations into the possible role of infectious agents as a root cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
