Advanced AI and big data methods to tackle dementia

Sports concussions, Parkinson's disease, and hormone therapy for cancer - all can have memory loss as symptoms. But do the biochemical processes of each type of memory loss have anything to reveal about the memory loss that is part of Alzheimer's disease? Rong Xu, PhD, recently received a total of $5 million for two projects that will use big data methods for a comprehensive look at a range of factors that may inform the mechanism of Alzheimer's and related dementia. "Vast amounts of data from seemingly unrelated sources present opportunities to researchers who aim to extract information that would help develop drugs or treatments," Says Xu, "This is especially true for diseases and conditions that may involve multiple genetic variations and that also have social or environmental influences." Xu is an associate professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.