ALT Your gift. Doubled. Every gift to the American Brain Foundation will be matched 1:1 through December 31st.

ALT ALS Research Discovery: Cellular senescence (when cells lose their ability to divide) may be an early and treatable feature of ALS.

ALT When they become senescent, “zombie” cells send inflammatory signals that damage surrounding tissue, impairing motor function in ALS. Using dasatinib and quercetin, drugs that target senescence, led to improved motor, neuromuscular, and cortical function in mouse models.

ALT "These findings identify cellular senescence as an early, disease-relevant, and modifiable feature of ALS pathology", said Joe Viteri, PhD, University of Missouri - Columbia

ALT What's next? This research has not yet been tested in human trials, but it provides evidence that senolytic strategies could be a viable approach to treat ALS.

ALT Researcher Feature: Esteban Luna, MD, PhD. Dr. Luna is a 2026 Next Generation Researcher studying Lewy Body Dementia. He will explore if the decreased expression of the gene MPEG1 in the brain’s immune cells is associated with accumulations of the protein alpha-synuclein, which leads to conditions like LBD and Parkinson’s. If so, this could lead to new therapeutic approaches targeting MPEG1 to treat these conditions.

ALT ALS Treatment: Clinical Trial Update. A Phase 2a "BANYAN" clinical trial of the ALS drug foralumab has begun. Three participants have already received their first dose. The clinical trial is being led by Suma Babu, MBBS, MPH, and James Berry, MD, MPH, both past recipients of American Brain Foundation Next Generation Research Grants (in 2019 and 2013).

ALT The drug is an intranasal monoclonal antibody that stimulates T regulatory cells to control neuroinflammation (the brain’s immune response), as associated with ALS. The trial, sponsored by biopharmaceutical company Tiziana, will include 44 people with early-onset ALS.

ALT "The BANYAN trial is designed to answer important questions about foralumab, specifically, whether it has a biological effect on Treg pathway in ALS, as measured by biomarkers.", said Dr. Suma Babu, Mass General Brigham.

ALT What's next? If foralumab is found to be safe and effective for treating ALS, it could offer patients a convenient, noninvasive form of immunotherapy.

ALT A photograph of a community group standing together overlaid with the quote, "I am offering this $500,000 matching challenge because I believe deeply in the American Brain Foundation’s ability to accelerate discoveries that change lives. By matching every contribution, I hope to inspire others to join me and make their support go twice as far." from the anonymous matching donor.

ALT October 8th is DAF day! With a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), you can give money—and accept a tax benefit—whenever you want. And when you are ready, you can direct a gift from your fund to the cause or organization of your choice.

ALT Peripheral neuropathy research: A new study has helped identify risk factors that make certain chemotherapy patients more vulnerable to peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve damage.

ALT Peripheral neuropathy refers to a group of disorders of the central nervous system that damage nerves and affect the way nerve cell signaling works. Peripheral neuropathy can result from other health conditions and medications, including chemotherapy, known as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).

ALT Dr. Tiffany Li and her colleagues published a new study in Neurology. Based on a study of 901 individuals who had received neurotoxic treatments from oncology centers in Australia, these factors may increase vulnerability to CIPN: advanced age, diabetes, higher BMI, having previously received neurotoxic chemotherapy, female sex.

ALT What's next? This insight could help care providers identify patients who may require more careful monitoring during chemotherapy. Earlier intervention could prevent or reduce CIPN.

ALT Researcher spotlight: Lenora Higginbotham, MD, 2026 Cure One, Cure Many Lewy Body Dementia Award.

ALT Despite having the same diagnosis, individuals with Lewy body dementia (LBD) can differ from each other in terms of their symptoms and underlying biology. This diversity, at a molecular level, is referred to as disease heterogeneity. To develop accessible methods to diagnose LBD in living patients, researchers must first identify the key biological signatures that correspond to different molecular processes and disease traits.

ALT Dr. Higginbotham’s team will study LBD plasma samples using a method called proteomic analysis. This refers to a large-scale, comprehensive study of all the proteins in a cell. They will employ machine-learning approaches to help identify differences in protein measurements among the samples that correspond with how the disease presents itself clinically. This will help scientists better understand individual variability in LBD.

ALT We're grateful to everyone who has made this research possible. This $1 million award is funded in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and donors like you.

ALT Researcher Feature: Jesús García-Castro, MD. Dr. García-Castro will combine blood testing and MRI brain scans to develop improved diagnostic methods for detecting subtypes of FTD called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Currently, both variants are difficult to diagnose in early stages because of symptoms that resemble other brain conditions. This research is co-funded with The Holloway Family Fund of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.

ALT Cognitive aging research: Earlier onset of menopause is tied to faster brain aging later in life. Scientists have a roadmap for research.

ALT “Menopause ... represents a midlife window for targeted prevention and personalized [dementia] risk mitigation.”, said Riley M. Bove, MD, University of California, San Francisco.

ALT What’s Next? Dr. Bove presents a roadmap for how scientists can prioritize research on how menopause affects women’s neurological health, especially when it happens early, either surgically or spontaneously.