Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research

Alzheimer’s is a world wide problem, with billions being spent on care-giving and remediating symptoms. CAF aims to address the problem at its root; to describe the major or leading causes of the disease in order to accelerate development of effective therapies.

We believe that the best way to cure the disease is to understand the causes of the disease and then to facilitate development of therapies, usually drugs, that address those causes. All funds raised by Cure Alzheimer’s Fund go directly to this basic, fundamental research following a roadmap of discovery laid out by a consortium of leading Alzheimer’s researchers from seven different institutions.

"Roadmap" is a popular term in scientific research today, and one we believe well-chosen. The concept implies direction, purpose, and an endpoint.

The Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Consortium has developed a Roadmap to a Cure, to clarify our path to slowing, stopping or reversing Alzheimer's disease. It is an evolving strategy, developed and updated based on what researchers agree is the best science available.

Our Roadmap is part of our broader National Strategy to Eradicate Alzheimer's Disease. The initial goal of the strategy begins with experiments aimed at identifying all gene mutations and common genetic variants in the human genome that either cause AD or predispose one to the increased risk of developing AD with advancing age. Just as four known AD genes have begun to serve as the principle guide for drug design and development, identification by power simulations on hundreds of families of the several dozen suspected AD genes that remain unknown will serve as the starting point for a roadmap that will not only enable the accurate diagnosis and early prediction AD, but also provide critical clues for the design and development of novel therapies aimed at effectively treating and preventing AD.

This “bottom up” strategy begins with the identification of the largest possible number of genes affecting risk for the disease and increasingly narrows candidate genes, the metabolic systems within which they operate and the proposed therapies for intervention to only those with the highest potential for a cure.

Find out more by reading our Roadmap to a Cure