IU School of Medicine receives nearly $50 million grant as Alzheimer’s research continues

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana University School of Medicine has received a $48.8 million grant to continue with its research on Alzheimer's.

The Model Organism Development and Evaluation for Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (MODEL-AD) began in 2016 with IU and three other institutions from across the country.

With the grant, IU will expand the research program with the goal of recreating genetic mutations in mice that are similar to those found in people with late-onset Alzheimer’s.

"The idea is to develop better models that really recapitulate what we see in people as closely as possible," Dr. Bruce Lamb, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Instituteat the IU School of Medicine, said. "[Alzheimer's] impacts a lot of people, and so we need to solve it."

Lamb has been researching Alzheimer's since 1991.

"Especially over the last 5-10 years, there's just I think been an explosion of new research activity and even sort of new findings, I think, that really give us a lot of hope in the research community," Lamb said. "As time goes on, I'm more and more convinced that, you know, part of the solution to this disease will come from from Indiana."

The grant is the second largest the school has ever received.

Close to 55 million people worldwide—including more than 6 million in the United States—are estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., that’s expected to rise to about 13 million people by 2050.

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Lamb and some of the researchers plan to attend this year's Walk to End Alzheimer's on Saturday.

"I make sure my team members go and they can hear and talk to people who've been impacted by the disease and hear their stories. Because as you can imagine, a lot of times, especially in the research world, you just are focused on sort of what's right in front of you, as opposed to thinking about what's the bigger impact of this," Lamb said. "Hearing those stories, I mean it's incredibly impactful for the people who are doing the research, you know, to sort of rededicate themselves and sort of say yeah, this is why this is so important to do."

The walk will be held at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium. It begins at 9 a.m. with a ceremony at 10:30 a.m., followed by the walk at 10:45a.m. To learn more, click here.