Immune and Metabolic Drivers of Brain Aging and Alzheimer’s: New Opportunities for AI-Guided Therapeutics

PI: Tyler Uland, associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Co-PI:

Abhishek Kumar, assistant professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology

Co-Investigators:

Barbara Bendlin, professor of Medicine

Kevin Eliceiri, professor of Medical and Biomedical Engineering

Vikas Singh, professor of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics

Henrik Zetterberg, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Description: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a significant public health challenge, yet the biological links between aging and brain decline remain poorly understood. This project explores a compelling new frontier, the role of the innate immune system and metabolism as central drivers of the disease. research shows that microglia, the brain’s resident innate immune cells, undergo a drastic shift in how they use energy very early in AD and this impacts the overall course of the disease.

To target the critical immune and metabolic drivers of Alzheimer’s, the interdisciplinary team will use high-resolution imaging to map cellular shifts directly within the brain and deploy advanced agentic-AI to rapidly identify affordable drugs capable of restoring immune and metabolic health. By merging these discoveries with longitudinal human data, they will identify early-warning biomarkers and develop accessible treatments to transform the clinical landscape of AD.