Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia.

It affects memory, thinking, behavior, and a person’s ability to carry out everyday activities. Despite major scientific advances in understanding the disease, there is still no cure.

What is Alzheimer’s disease? 

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition in which brain cells gradually lose function, disconnect from one another and die. It is marked by the gradual dysfunction and loss of neurons, along with abnormal buildups of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. Over time, a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease undergoes widespread shrinkage of the brain, known as cerebral atrophy, which involves the loss of neurons and the connections between them. It often starts in the memory center of the brain, including the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, and then spreads to areas involved in language, reasoning and other cognitive functions. Research increasingly suggests that Alzheimer’s begins long before diagnosis—making early detection and predictive modeling essential.   

Fast facts about Alzheimer’s disease

• More than 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. That number is projected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050.
• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60–70% of dementia cases worldwide.
• Early symptoms often include memory loss, confusion, trouble with reasoning, word-finding, and changes in judgment or spatial awareness.
• In most cases, Alzheimer’s is not caused by a single inherited mutation. Instead, risk reflects a complex interplay of aging, genetics, biology, environment and lifestyle.
• There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and researchers are still working to understand its earliest drivers and the best opportunities for intervention.

Sources: The World Health Organization, National Institute on Aging (NIA), The Alzheimer’s Association, The Mayo Clinic

Why is Alzheimer’s disease difficult to diagnose? 

There is no single routine office-based test that definitively identifies Alzheimer’s disease, and its earliest symptoms are often subtle and easily confused with other causes of cognitive change.  As a result, many people are diagnosed only after significant brain changes have already occurred. Improving early detection and building research models that more accurately reflect the biology of human Alzheimer’s is critical to finding more effective ways to prevent, slow, and treat disease progression.

Alzheimer’s Research at JAX

At JAX, our scientists are advancing Alzheimer’s disease research by uncovering the fundamental biology that drives disease onset and progression — helping to understand why some individuals remain resilient despite risk and are more vulnerable to disease progression. Despite decades of study, the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer’s remain incompletely understood. JAX scientists are working to change that.

Through the JAX Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research and the JAX–NYSCF Collaborative, teams of scientists are using cutting-edge approaches—including genetically precise mouse models, patient-derived stem cells, and advanced computational analysis—to study Alzheimer’s across systems. By generating human brain cell types such as neurons, microglia, and astrocytes from patient samples, researchers can model the disease in real time and observe how molecular pathways become disrupted. By integrating mouse and human data with scalable, high-throughput technologies, JAX researchers are identifying key cellular and genetic drivers of Alzheimer’s. This work is laying the foundation for earlier detection and more predictive, personalized approaches to treatment.

What we’ve accomplished so far 

• Launched a collaboration with GSK to advance translational models for neurodegenerative disease research.
• Part of the MODEL-AD Consortium, a major multi-institution effort to create and distribute improved late-onset Alzheimer’s disease mouse models that better align with human disease biology.
• Established the JAX Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research, with a focus on integrated translational science spanning mechanisms, progression and resilience.

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