Project Grant RF1AG078736

This three-year, $3,027,312 Project Grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, will fund research into the role of hippocampal inhibitory interneurons in novel memory formation and how this process is disrupted in Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, the awardee, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, will record electrical activity from inhibitory and excitatory neurons in mice and selectively stimulate parvalbumin-positive interneurons to test the hypothesis that intact inhibitory activity is necessary for normal memory formation, while altered inhibitory function disrupts memory formation in Alzheimer's disease models. The awardee will use optogenetic stimulation techniques in closed-loop experiments to abolish or generate patterns of parvalbumin cell activity in healthy mice and Alzheimer's disease models. Findings are intended to elucidate how vulnerability of these interneurons leads to impaired spatial learning and memory formation in Alzheimer's disease. A $100,000 subaward to Emory University will support the work of a doctoral student to contribute to experimental design, data collection/analysis, and presentation under this Aging Research grant program award.