MIAMI – The number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s is growing, and along with efforts to develop effective treatments for the disease, researchers are looking into ways to more easily diagnose it at an early stage.
Since 2015, Dr. Delia Cabrera DeBuc with the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute has been working to develop an eye test that could identify biomarkers that are indicative of Alzheimer’s.
“So we have the eye which is a small extension of the brain and with that, we can actually explore for example what is happening with the structure and function of the retinal cells and probably figure out better what might be happening in the brain in relation to conditions there,” she said.
DeBuc’s research isn’t just about science, it’s also personal; a year ago she tested positive for the late on-set Alzheimer’s gene.
Pre-existing COVID immunity?
And another interesting development in the battle against COVID-19: scientists have discovered antibodies that suggest some people may have a degree of pre-existing immunity to the virus.
The study, published in the journal Science found that even people who did not have COVID-19 had antibodies against the virus in some of the samples tested.
Researchers theorize that exposure to any of the common human coronaviruses, including the common cold, may lead to some level of immunity against COVID-19.