With a master's and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, Jean-Jacques Degroof has served in a number of educational and executive roles across the globe. Philanthropically, Jean-Jacques Degroof has a keen interest in entrepreneurship education, notably at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and the arts, and in issues related to ageing. To that end, he has supported a number of MIT programs and initiatives, including a research project exploring factors related to Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscientists at MIT recently completed a study exploring the way two genes affect the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. The genes, APOE4 and APOE3, are involved in metabolism and the transport of fatty molecules such as cholesterol throughout the body. Though only about 12 percent of people have the APOE4 gene, researchers have found that 37 percent of late onset Alzheimer’s patients share the gene. The MIT study investigated how APOE4 affected the body. Researchers found that its presence contributes significantly to the accumulation of the proteins that lead to the formation of plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. By editing the gene into the APOE3 variant in stem cells, the accumulation of proteins decreased significantly. Why the gene increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown, but the study, led by Li-Huei Tsai, the director of the MIT Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, reveals potential for future targeted treatments.
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