ADRC pilot grantee receives $2.4 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging

Lingjun Li, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and 2011-2012 ADRC pilot grant recipient, was recently awarded a grant from the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $2.4 million. With this grant, Li and a team of collaborators, including researchers with the ADRC—Cynthia Carlsson and Ozioma Okonkwo—aim to develop technology to further identify biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in order to improve early detection, diagnosis, predicting progression, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Using mass spectrometry, the team will analyze the cerebrospinal fluid for relevant biomarkers, specifically focusing on glycoproteins—a category of molecules that has sugar-based chemical groups, called glycans, stuck on the protein molecule. Changes in these sugars can reflect whether a cell is healthy or sick; these changes are tracked using mass spectrometry, which sorts molecules by their weight, as well as other chemical properties. One major aim of Li and her team is to push the technology of mass spectrometry forward, expanding the capabilities. 

"Sweetening the Process of Biomarker Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease" was posted on the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy news on Monday, April 2, 2018