News

The Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) is pleased to announce two funding opportunities supported by the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust (CART) for 2027.

Anti-amyloid immunotherapies come with a risk of serious brain hemorrhage, which can be mitigated via monitoring for amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) via MRI scans. Early signs of edema (ARIA-E) or hemorrhage (ARIA-H) can be subtle, and even highly trained neuroradiologists can miss them. Artificial intelligence could lend a hand, and indeed, a batch of AI-assisted ARIA tools stand ready to slide into radiology workflows. Several have shown enhanced sensitivity at flagging ARIA, albeit with a tendency toward false positives.

AI tools that detect ARIA on brain MRI in patients receiving anti-amyloid therapy for Alzheimer disease now have enough evidence behind them for clinical use, as long as the radiologist keeps ownership of the report. That is the conclusion of a multidisciplinary panel of neuroradiologists and Alzheimer disease clinicians, published September 16 in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).

New research highlighted by the San Antonio Center for AD/ADRD Population Aging and Social Studies (CAPAS) suggests that vision problems following a stroke may also have important implications for brain health. Stroke survivors with vision impairment were found to have 2.3 times higher odds of developing dementia compared with stroke survivors who did not experience vision-related issues.

AAIC 2026 reminds us why this work matters far beyond the conference halls. Every poster, panel, and conversation in London traces back to the Duke-UNC ADRC’s core mission: advancing the science of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, translating discoveries into better care, supporting families navigating a dementia diagnosis, and promoting brain health equitably across the diverse communities we serve.

Heather Whitson’s new research into lucidity asks a profound question: if a dementia patient returns to clarity, were those capabilities ever truly gone?