In a recent interview on the La Crosse, WI area radio station WIZM, Kimberly Mueller, PhD, CCC-SLP, shared updates on how Alzheimer’s disease is being detected earlier, and how a UW-Madison research study is helping lead those advances. Mueller is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an investigator in the UW–Madison Alzheimer’s disease research programs.
A focus of the conversation was what Mueller described as a “blood test revolution.” New blood-based biomarkers can now detect brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s years before symptoms appear.
A large portion of the data supporting these advances comes from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP), one of the longest-running studies of people at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. WRAP researchers follow participants over many years to understand how biological changes, thinking, memory, and communication evolve well before dementia develops. WRAP is headquartered under the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute at UW–Madison and has study sites in Madison, La Crosse, and Milwaukee.
Mueller’s work focuses on identifying subtle changes in everyday speech and language that may signal very early cognitive change, sometimes before memory problems are evident. She is director of the Cognitive-Communication in Aging and Neurogenic Disorders Laboratory, a research lab investigating early diagnosis of speech and language impairments in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, to ultimately find improved interventions for people before and after dementia occurs.
Related links:
Listen to the radio interview on the WIZM website.
The radio interview aired prior to a Badger Talk Dr. Mueller gave at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse campus. Watch a recording of her keynote talk on the uwlax.edu website.