 
2019 Awardees
Yan-Jiang Wang, MD, PhD and Xian-Le Bu, MD, PhD
Read the press release here
Yan-Jiang Wang is the professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology in Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China. He is the vice chair of Academy of Cognitive Disorder of China and director of Vas-Cog Asia. He completed his MD training at Third Military Medical University in China, and PhD training at Flinders University in Australia. His research focuses on the diagnostic biomarkers and novel therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). His group found that amyloid-β (Aβ) metabolism in the brain is dynamically connected with that in the periphery, peripheral-derived Aβ participates in the pathogenesis of AD and clearance of Aβ and tau from blood can reduce Aβ and pathological tau accumulation in the brain. Based on these findings, he and colleagues proposed the systemic view of AD to understand the disease pathogenesis and develop the therapeutics from systemic approaches (Wang J, Gu BJ, Masters CL, Wang YJ (2017) Nat Rev Neurol 13, 612-623).
Xian-Le Bu is a neurologist at Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, China. He did his medical doctor training and received PhD in Third Military Medical University (2012-2016). He was granted with the National Natural Science Foundation of China. His research focus is on the association of systemic disease and AD, and he and colleagues discovered: 1) numerous systemic diseases are associated with AD risk and peripheral Aβ metabolism, suggesting that the disorder of peripheral Aβ metabolism may be involved in AD pathogenesis. 2) blood-derived Aβ can enter brain and induce AD-type pathologies, providing novel insight into AD pathogenesis from a systemic view; 3) the substantial contribution of the peripheral system to the clearance of brain Aβ, providing proof-of-concept evidence that development of drugs and therapies for AD could be focused on peripheral rather than central Aβ clearance.
Importance of Published Article
The work presented in the paper J Alzheimers Dis 63, 1337-1346) was performed by Dr. Zhen-Qian Zhuang and colleagues in Professor Wang’s laboratory in Daping Hospital of Third Military Medical University. It has been shown that gut microbes can influence brain function and behavior via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. The alterations in the gut microbiota composition were proven to be linked to a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, it remains unclear whether gut microbiota participates in the pathogenesis of AD. In this study researchers collected the feces from patients with AD, and found that gut microbiota composition in the patients was different from that in cognitively normal controls. Several bacterial taxa, such as Actinobacteria, Bacteroidales, Ruminococcaceae, Selenomonadales, and Lachnoclostridium, contributed to the differences. This study provides evidence that gut microbiota composition is altered in patients with AD, suggesting that gut microbiota participates in the disease pathogenesis and modulation of gut microbiota might be a potential therapeutic strategy for AD.
2019 Sponsor
The 2019 Alzheimer Award is proudly sponsored by Memory Health, part of the Avantius Group. Memory Health distributes a nutritional supplement to improve memory and cognitive function, to support brain health and to promote overall healthy aging. Developed by a group of leading European scientists studying the critical role of nutrition in brain health, the formula was recently used in a groundbreaking study for dementia and Alzheimer’s research. memoryhealth.com
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Each year, the Associate Editors of the journal select the best article from the previous year's volumes. The awardee is presented the Alzheimer Medal, a 3" bronze medal with the likeness of Alois Alzheimer, and a cash prize of $7500. The Alzheimer Award is presented by JAD and IOS Press.