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Columbia University
Irving Medical Center
Neurological Institute

710 West 168th Street, 3rd floor
(212) 305-1818

Research

Genetics

Overview
The Laboratory for Genetic Epidemiology at Columbia University has been studying Alzheimer's disease (AD) across different ethnic populations for nearly 20 years. Led by Richard Mayeux, the lab continues to play a leadership role in the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Genetics Initiative. The NIA Family Study of Alzheimer'’s Disease, which includes approximately 1,500 families multiply affected by late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), is one of the most sought after cohorts for genetic studies in the world. In addition, Mayeux and his team direct the scientific community’s largest family study of Caribbean Hispanics, which includes over 700 multiplex families affected by AD. They are also actively engaged in a multi-national effort, which previously identified genetic variants in the SORL1 as a putative genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, as a senior investigator in the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium project, Dr. Mayeux and team continue to use genome-wide association (GWA) methods to identify AD genes and have begun whole exome sequencing and targeted sequencing studies. Presently, the lab is focused on investigations of the both risk and protective variants for early-onset and late-onset AD. In addition, they conduct studies of environmental and medical risk factors, the genotypic variability of apolipoprotein-E risk among different ethnic groups, and the relationship between alterations in lipid metabolism and risk of dementia.