Leading Researchers and Representatives of Alzheimer’s Association, CurePSP and Rainwater Foundation Publish Paper on Outcome of Tau2022

In February 2022, leading international tau experts convened to share selected highlights of the paper, “Novel avenues of tau research,” during Tau 2022, the second international tau conference co-organized and co-sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association, CurePSP and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. According to the paper, academia, industry and philanthropic sector presenters joined more than 1700 registered attendees from 59 countries, spanning six continents, to share recent advances and exciting new directions in tau research. The virtual meeting provided an opportunity to foster cross-sector collaboration and partnerships as well as a forum for updating colleagues on research-advancing tools and programs that are steadily moving the field forward.

The pace of innovation has accelerated in virtually every area of tau research in just the past few years. The tau protein has been implicated in the pathology of numerous brain disorders, ranging from tauopathies such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to conditions not classically categorized as tauopathies, such as Parkinson’s disease, Down syndrome, autism, and epilepsy. According to the paper, “research increasingly suggests that tau may serve different functions in different cell types and subcellular locations, under varying circumstances in different diseases, and therefore may participate in a wide range of pathways and mechanisms that can contribute to cell dysfunction and loss. Among important aims moving forward will be to identify these mechanisms and pathways and to establish their relative importance in increasingly informative disease-specific models.”

As summarized in the publication, Tau 2022 presented novel findings and innovative discussion on topics ranging from tau biology, biomarkers, therapeutics, and clinical trials. Of particular relevance for the CurePSP community, Tau 2022 underscored tau’s role in tauopathies such as PSP and CBD. The discussion at Tau 2022 will help the research community reframe current approaches, and discover shared mechanisms across tauopathies that will help move research forward.

Dr. Kristophe Diaz, Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of CurePSP, co-authored the paper and looks forward to building on its findings at the Tau2024 Global Conference, taking place virtually and in Washington D.C. from March 25-26. The conference will provide a forum for members of academia, industry, philanthropy and government to discuss tau-based biology, biomarkers, therapeutics and phenotypes; attract talent and funding to the study of tauopathies, particularly among early career researchers; and increase interdisciplinary alignment and collaboration around challenges in tau research. Topics will include biomarkers, clinical manifestations, drug development, risk and environmental factors, genetics, molecular and cell biology, neuropathology and more.

Learn more about the conference here.

Read the full paper here.