Monitoring Neural Activity and Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease

The goal is to uncover how neuroinflammation drives alterations of excitability and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, and to develop targeted interventions for Alzheimer’s disease.

Neuroinflammation is one key hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and one of the most attractive directions for novel AD drug development. However, it is still unclear how neuroinflammation contributes to memory loss and cognitive deficits. We will innovatively leverage advanced brain-machine interface and genetic tools to study the role of neuroinflammation and neural activity changes during AD progression.

Our study uniquely integrates lifelong, single-cell neural activity recording technologies with spatial transcriptomic profiling in AD mouse models. By combining flexible mesh electronics, in situ sequencing, and CRISPR-based perturbation of neuroinflammation, we offer a powerful, non-invasive platform to directly link neuronal dysfunction with molecular pathology over time.

If successful, our study will offer a powerful and feasible strategy to develop disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease by targeting key neuroinflammatory pathways. Our integrated platform that combines lifelong neural activity tracking with spatial transcriptomics enables direct correlation of brain dysfunction with molecular pathology, supporting therapeutic discovery and validation. The approach is highly translatable and supported by strong institutional resources for future clinical impact.