The Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) is a research group that works to identify genetic variants associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease . Fundació ACE is part of this international team, led by Dr. Gerard Schellenberg of the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (USA) . The ADGC is one of the four companies forming part of the International Genomics of Alzheimer ‘s Project (IGAP) .
Aging
Natural process that refers to the set of morphological and physiological changes that occur as a consequence of the action of time on life . Aging has a large variability between subjects due to many factors such as genetic , educational level , associated diseases , activity level , etc. . Well as psychological ability to adapt to changes with age.
Allele
An allele refers to the different forms of a gene with respect to the variation of the nucleotide sequence or DNA . The difference in the arrangement of the genetic material has specific effects on gene function.
ApoE
Apolipoprotein E is a protein which synthesizes a gene on chromosome number 19 . Research has demonstrated that the ApoE 4 allele of this protein is associated with risk for Alzheimer’s disease.