In general, we are exploring what goes wrong in the brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Frontal Temporal lobe Degeneration linked to tauopathy (FTD-tau) with the overall aim of identifying therapeutic approaches that may be beneficial for the treatment, or prevention of these diseases. Given our broad interest in neurodegenerative disease etiology and the insights to be gained by studying different diseases my lab has created various mouse models for the study of AD (amyloid accumulation), tauopathies and synucleinopathies. These models have facilitated the study of many aspects of pathogenesis from how the disease propagates through the brain, to imaging studies allowing the examination of structural and functional changes in the brain in living animals, to the identification of relevant druggable pathways and the testing of drugs. Our current interests are fourfold- the propagation of disease through the brain, the impact of ApoE4 on disease risk, the impact and restoration of functional clearance mechanisms and the basis and manipulation of memory deficits using optogenetic and brain stimulation techniques.

*Please note that currently Dr. Duff is not able to accept or mentor students, including interns, at any level.