Angie Olson Dorigatti, a student in the Biology of Aging discipline of the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program, won an outstanding scientific poster presentation award at the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium in Austin on Jan 30.

The title of the poster was “Tau-induced astrocyte senescence: A novel mechanism for neuronal dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease.” The poster presentation was judged by an independent committee of faculty scientists.

“I was happy to connect with local researchers at the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium in Austin last week to discuss the current state of research and establish possible future collaborations to fight this ugly disease,” she said. “As a bonus, I won an award for outstanding scientific poster presentation!”

Olson is a graduate student in Dr. Veronica Galvan’s lab where she is working on research related to Alzheimer’s Disease at The Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.

As an aging researcher, she is interested to test whether some of these aging interventions could slow or halt the progression of AD.

“My research has put a spotlight on tau, a protein involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration, and how tau may exacerbate brain inflammation,” she said.

In her research, she has found that tau can enter astrocytes (specialized glial cells that are important in neuronal homeostasis) which then induces senescence, causing cells to stop dividing and release pro-inflammatory proteins. This pro-inflammatory environment, in turn, damages neurons and leads to neurodegeneration in AD.

“I am currently treating mice with senolytics which selectively remove senescent cells to determine whether the removal of these cells can ameliorate cognitive deficits in AD,” she explained.