Thomas M Wisniewski
New York University, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Many people who recover from COVID-19 have lasting trouble with memory and thinking, and older adults and those with dementia risk factors appear especially vulnerable. Could the infection raise the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease or related dementias (AD/ADRD)?
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Neuroscience
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
SARS-CoV-2
long COVID
post-acute sequelae of COVID-19
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Compare cognitive and neuropsychological performance yearly over five years among older adults with post-COVID cognitive symptoms, infected adults without symptoms and uninfected controls, using the CDR-SB and Uniform Data Set Version 3.
- Track blood biomarkers of neurodegeneration (such as tau, p-tau-181, NfL and GFAP), inflammation and blood-brain barrier dysfunction every 12 months across the three groups of adults aged 60 and older.
- Compare Alzheimer's-related brain imaging biomarkers every 18 months using 3T MRI in post-COVID adults with and without cognitive symptoms and in uninfected controls.
More about the research
The team's earlier study of 4,491 hospitalized COVID-19 patients found that 14% developed new neurological problems, most often encephalopathy (brain dysfunction). Six months after discharge, 48% of those who had been cognitively normal before COVID scored abnormally on a telephone version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Patients with encephalopathy also had higher blood levels of brain-injury and Alzheimer's markers, including total tau, p-tau-181, UCH-L1, neurofilament light chain (NfL) and GFAP. These levels tracked with inflammation markers such as IL-6 and C-reactive protein.
Why it matters
Millions of older adults have had COVID-19, and some develop lasting cognitive problems. By following patients for five years, this study could identify risk factors and blood or imaging biomarkers that flag who is most likely to progress to Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. That information could help clinicians spot at-risk patients earlier and clarify how the infection may harm the brain.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alan C Seifert
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether neuroPASC, lasting neurological symptoms after COVID-19, involves vascular injury and inflammation, by comparing ex vivo MRI and histology from half-brains of 25 neuroPASC and 15 control decedents.
Bryan Lau
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Public Health & Epidemiology
Assess how HIV status relates to COVID-19 hospitalization and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (lasting after-effects), using Medicaid claims from 27 states and Washington, DC.
Negar Omidvari
University of California-Davis, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Develop and validate a kinetic model of the T-cell–targeting tracer 18F-AraG across organs and tissue types, using dynamic total-body PET scans for more accurate measurement than standard static images.
The school
New York University: 72 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 540 research doctorates a year.
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