Over 12 million people have had their DNA analyzed by direct testing companies like 23andMe or Ancestry. Many have found out that they have ApoE4, a gene that significantly raises their risk of Alzheimer’s, but it’s no guarantee that a person will actually develop it. There are many other factors that can contribute to developing Alzheimer’s and, through lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet and increased exercise, those factors can be addressed and progression can be reversed.
Join Dr. Corinne Spencer to learn how this gene works in the brain, how it contributes to Alzheimer’s and find out how a neuroscientist, who has the ApoE4 gene, plans to keep her brain healthy.
Dr. Corinne Spencer was inspired as a teenager to become a neuroscientist when her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A native Michigander, Dr. Spencer went to The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and double-majored in Chemistry, and Cellular and Molecular Biology. She then went to The University of Pennsylvania where she earned a PhD in Pharmacological Sciences. After 30 years spent in academic research studying the molecular mechanisms of stress, learning and memory, and autism, Dr. Spencer left a genetics faculty position at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 2016 with a dream to help bridge the gap between Alzheimer’s research and real-life solutions. Inspired by recent research highlighting lifestyle interventions as effective in reversing dementia, she desires to bring practical information and hope to people who live with a family legacy of Alzheimer’s disease.