A $10 million gift to the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center will leverage more than three decades of research to forge new paths in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, thanks to philanthropic support from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, is characterized by a gradual decline in memory and other cognitive abilities due to the buildup of plaques and tangles in the brain. Nearly one out of two people over age 55 will develop dementia at some point in their life.
“My entire career has led up to this moment,” said David A. Bennett, MD, world-renowned researcher, the Robert C. Borwell Professor of Neurological Science and director of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
“We are committed to discovering better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The Angell Family Foundation’s support will allow us to apply the newest science and techniques available to 30 years of data and brain tissue collected from two of our signature community-based studies.”
The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation’s gift — its first to Rush — will initiate unparalleled progress in our understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We are excited to partner with Dr. Bennett and his team of leading experts in the field to achieve our shared vision of personalized therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,” said Sharon Davis-Angell, trustee of the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.
“This work has the potential to discover early detection mechanisms, develop new therapies, and to change the paradigm for how we conduct Alzheimer’s research, while, most importantly, helping those affected preserve a high quality of life for as long as possible.”
Advancing personalized therapeutics
The Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center is venturing into uncharted territory with great promise for brain health. Similar to how cancer researchers advanced the field by growing tumors in the laboratory and testing drugs on them to find the best therapies for people, Bennett and his team will model brain molecular signatures to develop precision therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
Using samples and related data collected from thousands of people that tracked the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the team will first generate molecular signatures — different pathways that lead to Alzheimer’s dementia — with molecular data from the brain. They will then use data to predict the brain’s molecular signatures of Alzheimer’s disease subtypes. The Angell Family Foundation’s investment will support the innovative analyses needed to translate molecular signatures generated from brain autopsies to data collected from the same individuals during their lifetimes.
Next, the researchers will identify the tags and drivers for each Alzheimer’s disease molecular signature and the cell types in which they reside. This will lay the groundwork for growing brain cells and brain organoids in a dish. The organoids — miniaturized and simplified versions of an organ that mimic the organ’s key functional, structural and biological complexity — will be made from blood cells taken from study participants.
Using this newly created living brain tissue, the researchers will test various potential drug therapies, gaining valuable insights into how drugs affect brain function and activity across Alzheimer’s disease subtypes — leading to the best, most personalized therapeutics for the disease.
As precision medicine advances, physicians will increasingly be able to evaluate each patient’s risk of brain diseases and refine medical care accordingly. This new generation of knowledge is intended to pave a viable path to personalized therapeutics in brain health for researchers around the world.
Accelerating the pace of research
While the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center obtains high levels of federal funding, those dollars are tied to specific projects and cannot be repurposed. So generous philanthropic support from funders like the Angell Family Foundation plays a critical role in markedly speeding the pace of research by shortcutting the multiyear time horizon from initial grant submission to funding from the National Institutes of Health.
“We are embarking on the next step in the journey toward advancing precision medicine in brain health,” Bennett said. “This donation will help advance groundbreaking progress in our understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It supports our ambitious plans to significantly accelerate the pace of our research, bringing us closer to the goal of developing precision interventions for all those afflicted by and at risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
Philanthropic support also allows researchers to pursue novel high-risk, high-yield projects that seldom get through the NIH peer-review process.
Founded by Charles Angell in 2011 to honor his father, Paul M. Angell, the foundation strives to embody the legacy of his compassion, ingenuity and industriousness, while solving societal challenges.
“We are delighted with this important partnership with Rush University and look forward to the important advancements that will be realized by Dr. Bennett and his team,” said Kim Van Horn, chief executive officer.
Past studies lay the groundwork
With more than 200 faculty and staff members and trainees, the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center is one of the country’s most prolific research groups dedicated to the prevention of common chronic conditions of aging (especially dementia and disability), health equity and the development of treatments.
For more than 35 years, the center has collected data and biospecimens from about 15,000 people, and more than 1 million biospecimens through its two unique, pioneering longitudinal studies in which participants agree to the repeated collection of clinical data and blood. Some develop dementia, and others do not. All of them must agree to brain donation at death, and more than 2,000 brains and other tissues have been autopsied.
Through a collaboration with the New York Stem Cell Foundation and Harvard University, the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center team turned participants’ frozen white blood cells into stem cells. The Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center will use these stem cells to make brain cells and brain organoids in a dish. They are the only Alzheimer’s research group in the world that has generated such a unique and valued resource.
About the RUSH Campaign: partnering for innovative solutions
This gift from the Angell Family Foundation demonstrates how philanthropic partners are helping Rush solve challenges facing our communities and the field of health care, including fueling research breakthroughs. Rush University System for Health has publicly shared its bold plan — Without Boundaries: The RUSH Campaign — to eliminate the boundaries in health care preventing many from living their healthiest lives possible.
With the support of donors and funders like the Angell Family Foundation, Rush aims to raise at least $750 million to deliver the health solutions our region and the field of health care need most. Rush plans to especially concentrate investment in six strategic priorities: neuroscience, cancer, bone and joint, education and workforce development, health equity and innovation. The Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center is central to Rush’s broader commitment to neuroscience care and research. Philanthropic partnerships allow us to build upon our legacy of innovation to shape even more solutions that preserve and restore brain health.
