Why Are Women More Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s Disease? - Priyanka Saminathan, Ph.D.

Priyanka Saminathan, Ph.D., is an early-career postdoctoral fellow at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, San Diego, California, under the guidance of Dr. Sonia Sharma. She earned her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. She shares her research on how both sex and age play a vital role in driving Alzheimer’s disease and discusses the impact her research could have on the development of new bio-markers and therapeutics for women and men with Alzheimer’s disease.
Every year the number of Alzheimer’s disease cases steadily increases, and older women are twice as likely to develop the disease during their lifetime. Non-invasive methods for diagnosing early Alzheimer’s disease do not exist, and treatments are few. Dr. Sonia Sharma’s lab at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) specializes in applying state-of-the-art profiling methods to measure thousands of small molecule metabolites in the blood of patients with inflammatory diseases like Alzheimer's disease. Her lab's researchers are working on identifying so-called “protective metabolites” in the blood of men and women without Alzheimer's Disease compared to those with Alzheimer's Disease.
La Jolla Institute’s community lecture series “Life Without Disease” provides San Diegans with an opportunity to hear about the latest advances in immune research and learn first-hand about the exciting research conducted at the Institute. The seminars are delivered by leading figures in immunology and are offered at no charge to the public several times each year.
To learn more about upcoming talks at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and Sharp Minds at the Fleet Center follow the links below.
www.lji.org/events/life-witho...
www.fleetscience.org/events/s...