The Alzheimer’s Research Center is a national research center that relies on charitable gifts to conduct nationally recognized research for Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other nervous system disorders. The research center has been located on the campus of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN for over 30 years. The Alzheimer’s Research Center is part of HealthPartners Research Foundation (HPRF) which consists of approximately 200 research staff members. HPRF is a non-profit foundation dedicated to conducting high-quality, public-domain health research, directed by HealthPartners’ medical, dental and mental health professionals, often in collaboration with other academic and research organizations throughout the world. HPRF’s mission is to discover and accelerate the use of knowledge to improve the health and health care of our members, patients and community.

Decreased action of insulin in the brain is thought to contribute to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is difficult to treat patients with insulin without causing side effects. At the Alzheimer’s Research Center, we have developed an intranasal insulin delivery method that targets insulin to the brain without causing unwanted side effects. Our intranasal insulin delivery method has been shown by researchers in Germany to improve both memory and mood in normal adults. Additionally, our collaborators at the University of Washington have shown that intranasal insulin improves memory, attention, and functional status, in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and those with mild cognitive impairment. Research is now in progress to determine how long the benefit of intranasal insulin can be maintained with prolonged treatment.

The US Department of Commerce has awarded the Alzheimer's Research Center a patent on a new method of drug delivery. Most drugs do not enter the brain through the blood stream due to the neuro-protective mechanism known as the blood brain barrier. However, the Alzheimer's Research Center has shown that drugs administered as nose drops can enter the brain directly without entering the blood stream. This is possible because the brain sends nerves directly into the nasal cavity to sense odors. These nerves provide a direct pathway from the nose to the brain, which can be used to deliver and target drug delivery to the brain.

Our mission is to improve the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurologic disorders by advancing scientific knowledge through creative and collaborative research. We strive to educate the community and serve as a resource, bringing together patients, families, research centers, universities, and pharmaceutical companies with the common goal of curing Alzheimer’s disease.





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Finding new ways to identify, treat and prevent memory loss You can make a difference!
Sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Research Center

www.mnmemoryproject.org