Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Stern

@andrewmstern.bsky.social

630 followers 580 following 97 posts

Neurologist and Alzheimer disease scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. My lab studies beta-amyloid aggregates as they occur in human brain. Also TDP-43 biomarkers. Associate PD for research at MGB neurology residency program. sternlab.bwh.harvard.edu

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Jul 25

My lab is hiring a postdoc to work on new TDP-43 biomarkers! Please get in touch and re-post!

8 5

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · 8d

Some thoughts on personalized medicine. open.substack.com/pub/andrewms...

On exactitude in single-molecule omics of the human body

Toward truly personalized medicine

open.substack.com

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Sep 5

Some poorly conceived thoughts on modern science. open.substack.com/pub/andrewms...

Simultanagnosia and scientific paradigms

This week, in our case rounds, one of our clinical fellows presented a classic case of posterior cortical atrophy, an atypical presentation of Alzheimer disease.

open.substack.com

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Jul 25

My lab is hiring a postdoc to work on new TDP-43 biomarkers! Please get in touch and re-post!

8 5

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Aug 7

BREAKING: Field makes inchwise progress over decades on intractable problem of dementia with interesting leads and blind alleys but smart people are doing their best and please don’t overinterpret their results because it takes a long time for a real breakthrough

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/06/m...

New hope for Alzheimer’s: Groundbreaking Harvard study finds lithium reverses brain aging - The Boston Globe

The research suggests a new approach to preventing and treating the mind-robbing disease.

www.bostonglobe.com

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 31

First highlight...

Senator Capito started of the discussion saying that the bill contains AN INCREASE for NIH.

The details are not available, but the bill will be released ofter the hearing.

This is not a done-deal, but it does show where the Senate is on a bipartisan basis.

2 29 120

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Jul 25

My lab is hiring a postdoc to work on new TDP-43 biomarkers! Please get in touch and re-post!

8 5

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 5

New TYP lab publication led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! We present a reproducible neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-culture model to better reproduce intercellular interactions in Alzheimer's disease. Read more here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Astrocyte induction of disease-associated microglia is suppressed by acute exposure to fAD neurons in human iPSC triple cultures

Lish et al. present a co-culture system of iPSC-derived human microglia, astrocytes, and neurons to investigate intercellular communication across different environmental and genetic contexts. Transcr...

www.cell.com

13 19

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · May 27

Well said!

Sarah Ackley @sfackley.bsky.social · May 27

I was invited to comment for AlzForum on GLP-1s and dementia.

GLP-1s show promise, but RCTs like GRADE have not demonstrated clear cognitive benefits. Observational studies may be confounded by socioeconomic factors and prescribing patterns.

Read the full comment: www.alzforum.org/papers/gluco...

Glucose-Lowering Medications, Glycemia, and Cognitive Outcomes: The GRADE Randomized Clinical Trial. | ALZFORUM

www.alzforum.org

1 3

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · May 22

Thanks guys. To be clear, I still favor that antibody directly binding to CAA could be a cause of ARIA. We just found that the difference in ARIA-E between lec and adu can’t be fully explained by differences in CAA preference.

1 3

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · May 21

We studied the binding of clinical antibodies to human brain extracts and found no evidence that lecanemab binds a more soluble population of Abeta than aducanumab or donanemab, nor that binding preferences to CAA vs plaque explained different ARIA rates. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Anti-amyloid antibody equilibrium binding to Aβ aggregates from human Alzheimer disease brain

Importance: Anti-amyloid immunotherapy is used to treat Alzheimer disease (AD) with moderate benefits and potentially serious side effects due to amyloid related imaging abnormality with effusions/ede...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Andrew Stern

alexlish.bsky.social @alexlish.bsky.social · Apr 30

Thrilled to share my first first-author paper is out
@cp-neuron.bsky.social! We show that Alzheimer's disease protective CLU alleles upregulate CLU in response to neuropathology, dampening inflammatory signaling between microglia and astrocytes.

Read here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

CLU alleviates Alzheimer’s disease-relevant processes by modulating astrocyte reactivity and microglia-dependent synaptic density

Genetic studies implicate clusterin (CLU) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet its precise molecular impact remains unclear. Through u…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 20 37

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Nicolas Villain @nvillain-alz.bsky.social · Apr 15

Oh! It was finally approved today! 🍾🍾

ec.europa.eu/newsroom/san...

HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY - Commission authorises medicine for treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease

ec.europa.eu

2 6

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 11

Congratulations our newly-minted PhD candidate Olivia Pembridge on passing her PQE with flying colors today! Olivia will be using a wide array of iPSC and organoid models to study mechanisms of neurodevelopment!

4 9

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Mar 28

If you're headed to #ADPD next week, be sure to stop by the TYP lab presentations by @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social and Zach Augur to learn about some of the amazing work the lab is doing!

1 2 8

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Mar 28

Zach Augur will be presenting a poster during Shift 1 on April 2nd and 3rd titled "BAG3 IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND ITS IMPACT ON ASTROCYTE FUNCTION AND DISEASE PROGRESSION"

1 2 3

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Mar 28

@gizemterzioglu.bsky.social will be presenting at the Microglia Symposium on the afternoon of April 4th! Her talk is titled "INPP5D/SHIP1 REGULATES MICROGLIA FUNCTION AND INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE"

3 5

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Mar 15

Yes SEC followed by several techniques like ELISA, Western blot, EM, etc.

1 1

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Mar 14

It’s good to be skeptical! I agree - I don’t think there’s a distinct atomic structure of oligomers/protofibrils as distinct from fibrils found in plaques. But there are reasons “they” said these things.

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Mar 14

We’re still working on it! We have some interesting SEC data to share with you. I think Dennis or our postdoc Youqi will present some at AD/PD if you’ll be there (I won’t).

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Mar 14

The homogenization, centrifuge speeds, detection methods, etc always vary paper to paper but the finding is reproducible. See also eg pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23225543/

Amyloid-β oligomerization in Alzheimer dementia versus high-pathology controls - PubMed

The results raise the intriguing hypothesis that the linkage between plaques and oligomers may be a key pathophysiological event underlying dementia of the Alzheimer type. This Aβ oligomer assay may b...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Andrew Stern @andrewmstern.bsky.social · Mar 14

In the case of Abeta, also from observations that aqueously extracted aggregates correlate with disease better than plaques do, but without structural information about those aggregates other than some antibody binding studies. Eg onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Soluble pool of Aβ amyloid as a determinant of severity of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease

Genetic evidence strongly supports the view that Aβ amyloid production is central to the cause of Alzheimer's disease. The kinetics, compartmentation, and form of Aβ and its temporal relation to the ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Suzanne E. Schindler @suzanneeschindler.bsky.social · Mar 5

A very thoughtful and sobering piece by Dr. Jason Karlawish.

"The problem is that the facts don't support Piller's message. It's sensational, and in my experience, it's causing harm."

How a Book Is Undermining Progress Against Alzheimer's www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

1 1 4

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Mar 5

It was distressing to see the skepticism about Alzheimer's disease research expressed at the Bhattahcharya hearing today.

This has been fueled by Charles Piller's sensationalized (NOT sensational) reporting and book.

1/n

2 8 59

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Charles Jennings @chasjennings.bsky.social · Mar 4

Many Alzheimer’s researchers are also unhappy with Piller’s recent book and its negative characterization of the field, in which he inflates the significance of isolated fraud cases to argue that the entire field is corrupt. Here’s a rebuttal from my colleague Dennis Selkoe, published in STAT News:

There is no ‘amyloid cabal’ in Alzheimer’s research

“There exists no ‘amyloid cabal’” in Alzheimer’s research, neurologist Dennis Selkoe writes in response to Charles Piller’s “Doctored.”

www.statnews.com

5 13

Reposted by Andrew Stern

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Mar 3

@baldwin.senate.gov released a press release calling out the administration for damaging the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center network through it's screwing up NIH processes.

www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-r...

1/2

Baldwin Blasts Trump Administration for Stopping $65 Million for Alzheimer’s Disease Research | U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate...

www.baldwin.senate.gov

4 45 120