[SupportTGen] Breaking News from TGen]

Begin forwarded message:

From: [email protected]
Date: October 19, 2006 8:28:18 PM EDT
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Fwd: [SupportTGen] Breaking News from TGen]

Dave

Perhaps for IP.

Exciting news from Phoenix!

I'm personally excited because in addition to having supplied a blood  
sample to the
Banner Alzheimer's Institute, and Mayo Clinic Scottsdale  
collaboration, both my
father & his father had Alzheimer's (so, you know what my concerns are)!

Now, that light at the end of my tunnel may well be something other  
than an
onrushing train!

Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ  85067-3023
Mobile:  602-206-2856
LandLine:  602-274-3012
[email protected]



--------------------------------- Original Message  
---------------------------------
Subject: [SupportTGen] Breaking News from TGen
From:    [email protected]
Date:    Thu, October 19, 2006 11:57 am
To:      [email protected]
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------

Dear TGen supporters and friends:

I am pleased to inform you that researchers at the Translational  
Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) will announce today the discovery of a gene that  
plays a
significant role in memory performance in humans. The findings,  
reported by TGen and
research colleagues at the University of Zurich in Switzerland,  
Banner Alzheimer's
Institute, and Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, will appear in tomorrow's  
(October 20th)
issue of Science. Several local and national media have already shown  
interest in
covering this announcement, including a local CBS News piece airing  
tonight on KPHO
Channel 5, the Phoenix Business Journal, New York Newsday, the Wall  
Street Journal
and others.

The study details how researchers associated memory performance with  
a gene called
Kibra in over 1,000 individuals. The memory discovery was made by  
comparing the
genetic blueprint of people with good memory to people with poor  
memory; memory
performance was based on a series of gold-standard tests for all  
individuals. The
researchers then validated their discovery by replicating the Kibra  
gene finding in
two separate and distinct groups of subjects.

Besides the fact that it gives the research community a new and  
important handhold
into truly understanding the process of memory, the Kibra gene is  
likely a modifier
of severity of several other disorders, including Alzheimer's  
disease, Parkinson's
disease, epilepsy, memory loss due to chemotherapy treatments, and  
others. The
ramifications of this report are that scientists may ultimately be  
able to develop
new and effective medicines that can combat memory loss, and that  
might also help
improve memory in people with memory disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

The team has already begun working on new drugs to restore memory  
function in
age-related memory loss and diseases that have a memory loss component.

If you'd like additional information, please feel free to contact me.

Michael Bassoff
President, TGen Foundation
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