Research and Progress


TIME: Stressed-Out People May Have Smaller Brains, Study Says

October 24, 2018

  By Jamie Ducharme October 24, 2018   You already know that stress is bad for your health, but according to a new study published in Neurology, it may also be bad for your brain. The new study found that middle-aged adults with the highest levels of cortisol had lower brain volume and cognitive functioning […]




Forbes: Senolytic Therapies Seem to Stop Alzheimer’s Disease In Its Tracks

October 12, 2018

Scientists at the University of Texas have implicated a type of cellular stress for the first time as a player in Alzheimer’s disease. And their discovery could lead to treatments for more than 20 human brain diseases including Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury. One author of the study went as far as to say the […]




Toxic ‘zombie’ cells seen for 1st time in Alzheimer’s

August 27, 2018

A type of cellular stress known to be involved in cancer and aging has now been implicated, for the first time, in Alzheimer’s disease. UT Health San Antonio faculty researchers reported the discovery Aug. 20 in the journal Aging Cell. The team found that the stress, called cellular senescence, is associated with harmful tau protein […]



Comment about findings of the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project

August 17, 2018

Sudha Seshadri, M.D., professor of neurology at UT Health San Antonio and founding director of the university’s Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, made the following statement about the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project, findings of which were announced Tuesday, Aug. 14. Dr. Seshadri is principal investigator of the research, which was developed jointly by [...]

Abnormal gene copying seen in tauopathy fruit fly models

July 23, 2018

It sounds like science fiction: Nefarious genes clone themselves and settle their rogue copies in distant outposts of the galaxy (namely, our DNA), causing disease. But it’s a real phenomenon, and in research published July 23, scientists at UT Health San Antonio revealed that this genetic copy-and-paste activity is significantly increased in fruit fly models […]


Biggs researcher awarded UT System STARs award

July 9, 2018

Xianlin Han, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Medicine, the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies and the Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases has received a $300,000 STARs award from the UT System. Dr. Han’s laboratory focuses on lipidomics, a relatively new field of biomedical research which involves complex lipidome […]


Dementia and genes to be discussed

June 7, 2018

Dementia, a decline in mental ability that is severe enough to interfere with the activities of daily life, is not the result of a single mutation in a single gene, said Sudha Seshadri, M.D., professor and founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. On the […]


Dementia Trend Shows Later Onset with Fewer Years of the Disease

April 23, 2018

The diagnosis is one that a family never wants to hear: Your father has Alzheimer’s disease. Your mother has stroke-related dementia. Sudha Seshadri, M.D., professor of neurology and founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, is the senior author on the study, which draws evidence from the […]


Picture of an XRAY of a human head

Worldwide study triples number of known genetic risk factors for stroke

March 12, 2018

Research co-author Dr. Sudha Seshadri of UT Health San Antonio’s Glenn Biggs Institute predicts that the study will also be a boon for dementia research SAN ANTONIO (March 12, 2018)—A landmark international study of DNA samples from 520,000 individuals worldwide—including 67,000 affected individuals—identified 22 new genetic risk factors for stroke. Sudha Seshadri, M.D., of UT […]



Study reveals novel biomarkers for future dementia risk

March 7, 2018

Participants’ blood samples were drawn years before their dementia diagnosis. Sudha Seshadri, M.D., founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, is co-leader and senior author on research announced March 6 that identifies novel biomarkers of risk for future dementia. Dementia is a rising tidal wave […]