Worcester Researchers Study Link Between Microbiome and Alzheimer's Disease

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and the UMass Center for Microbiome Research in Worcester are investigating bacteria in the gut for possible linkage with Alzheimer's disease, reports WCVB . A team led by UMass Professor John Haran has just received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging to explore the gut microbiome's effect on cognitive function. Haran said 70 percent of the immune system resides in the gut. His team reported last year that people diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia have certain gut microbiomes that fuel inflammation in common. "If the inflammation is being driven from the microbiome, there's two things that could happen," Haran noted. "One, it could be preventative, to not have the inflammation happens in the first place. Second, if that inflammation is kind of cured or quieted down, the immune system would have time to then to recover back." The Center for Microbiome Research is enlisting Worcester-area seniors, both with an Alzheimer's diagnosis and without, as study participants.