Dr. Sanjana Dayal, Assistant Professor of Hematology, Oncology, and Blood & Marrow Transplantation, has received supplemental funding through the NIH’s National Institute of Aging to expand her research into the area of Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s-related dementias. In 2015, she received a 5-year, $1.5M R01 to study age-associated thrombosis. This most recent grant is a one-year, $152,000 supplement to her existing R01.

Using a mouse model overexpressing anti-oxidant glutathione peroxidase-1, she will investigate the role of peroxide in aging-associated cognitive decline. Young and aged mice will be assessed for spatial memory, neurodegeneration, and blood-brain barrier integrity. Understanding the mechanism by which aging contributes to cognitive impairment has the potential to reveal new therapeutic strategies to minimize age-associated cognitive decline. This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. John Wemmie, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa.