Finding a way to slow or even stop Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most difficult challenges facing medicine today. Many research and clinical trials have led to promising results over the years, while others have produced disappointing findings. But what if there were a way to get more out of these trials—even the ones with less-than-promising results? What if there were a better way to determine if a drug is hitting its intended target?

For patients who find themselves slowly beginning to lose vision, today’s doctors have gene replacement therapy as a treatment option. However, there’s a small window of time when the therapy will work best, meaning if a patient isn’t seen soon enough, vision cannot be restored.

Gifts from generous donors have helped researchers who are working to answer basic questions about the human brain—answers that could lead to important discoveries in disease and improve patient outcomes.

In a daring yet successful experiment back in 1995, Matthias Gromeier, MD, discovered that genetic recombination of poliovirus with a distant relative, human rhinovirus type 2, eliminates the disease-causing capacity of poliovirus. Yet, the modified virus retains the ability to infect and damage cancerous cells, owing to their abnormal “wiring,” and—more importantly—provides powerful immune stimulation by inducing host antiviral defenses.

To improve the survival of patients with brain tumors, Vidya Chandramohan, PhD, focuses on developing bacterial toxin-based therapies for glioblastoma.

In 2021, a baby boy named Easton Sinnamon was the first person in the world to receive a combination heart transplant and allogeneic processed thymus tissue implantation. Six months later, a video showed Easton smiling and playing in a high chair, and tests indicated that the processed thymus tissue was working: building the T cells needed for a well-functioning immune system.

For many years, the late Neil L. Spector, MD, who was a leading cancer researcher at Duke Cancer Institute, struggled with Lyme disease. Initially, he was misdiagnosed and when finally treated with antibiotics, some of his symptoms improved but his heart was irreparably damaged due to Lyme carditis, a condition that occurs when Lyme disease bacteria enter the tissues of the heart.

Michael Boyce, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry, never expected to be studying the lungs. He is an expert in glycobiology—the intricate mechanisms behind how sugars attach to proteins, and the role these sugars play in sending signals that influence cell biology, organ function, and more.

Gift by Marion Stein, MD, to support research and faculty at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.

Carol Deane advances her long history of support for Duke by establishing a Presidential Distinguished Chair