Agenda:

9:00am – 9:30am	Welcome and Overview
9:30am – 10:15am	The Antimicrobial protection hypothesis of AD Rudolph Tanzi, PhD – Harvard University
10:15am – 11:00am	Alzheimer’s disease genetics implicate efferocytosis in microglia Alison Goate, DPhil – Icahn School of Medicine of Mt. Sinai
11:00am – 11:10am	Morning Break
11:10am – 12:10pm	Lightning Talks Session 1:  Role of the CNS resident immune response in AD

	Beth Stevens, PhD Broad Institute and Boston Children’s Mapping Microglia States and (Dys)Function in Alzheimer’s Disease	Carol Colton, PhD Duke University Role of neuroinflammation and innate immune activation in influencing brain metabolism in AD	Joseph El Khoury, MD Harvard University Novel animal model in the study of microglia and HSV-6

	Jenny Ting, PhD University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Role of the Inflammasome in Alzheimer’s Disease	Robyn Klein, MD, PhD Washington University How antiviral immune responses in the CNS might trigger pathological forgetting

	David Gate, PhD Stanford University Intrathecal immunity in Alzheimer’s disease	Prof. Dr. Michael T. Heneka University of Bonn NLRP3 inflammasome activation drives pathological spread in AD

	Sangram S. Sisodia, PhD University of Chicago Sex-specific alterations in neuroinflammation and amyloid deposition by the microbiome in animal models	Rima Kaddurah-Daouk, PhD Duke University Brain Metabolic Health – At the Cross Road of Exposome Gut Microbiome Genome and Metabolome Gut-Brain Chemical Axis in Alzheimer’s Disease

	Serena Spudich, MD, MA Yale University What role(s) might COVID-19 infection play in AD development and what are the key questions and gaps	Mari L. Shinohara, PhD Duke University Fungal infections and fungal receptors in AD: Lessons from research on MS

FAQS:

Is this symposium free?

This symposium is 100% free thanks to the generous support from Dr. Leslie Norins (Duke Med ’62) and Ms. Rainey Norins.

What will the small discussion groups be about?

Small discussion groups will be organized by topic to identify key gaps and testable hypotheses. Small discussion groups will be encouraged to outline fundable project ideas and next steps.

Possible topic groupings include (will be modified based on areas of interest captured at registration)

The role of microglia or astrocytes in AD development and progression
Potential role of microglia in infectious etiologies underlying AD 
Potential role of astrocytes in infectious etiologies underlying AD
Blood-brain barrier and neurovascular/neurolymphatic structures in the AD pathogen hypothesis 
Role of systemic immune system in AD 
Exposure to specific pathogens and the risk of AD 
Microbiome and AD 
COVID-19 and AD 
Age-related changes in immune system or metabolism and the risk of AD 
Epidemiological approaches to probing the pathogen hypothesis of AD 
Systems biology (-omics) approaches in investigating the role of infection/inflammation in AD 
Use of animal models in studying the role of infection and inflammation in AD 
Use of brain banks and biorepositories to investigate the role of infection and inflammation in AD 
Use of novel brain imaging techniques to probe the pathogen hypothesis of AD