Globe and Mail - How Canadian researchers hope to delay onset of Alzheimer's

A gene that plays a role in memory and learning also shapes the architecture of the aging brain in ways that may make people more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease, a team of Toronto researchers has discovered…

Judes Poirier, an expert on the genetics of the disease at McGill University in Montreal, said at least 40 studies have probed BDNF and Alzheimer's disease. He suspects the protein plays a role helping the brain repair damage. But this is the first study to use sophisticated brain imaging techniques to show the gene's impact on specific brain structures.