The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has awarded its grant for "The Contribution of the Oral Microbiome to Alzheimer’s Disease Risk" to Irene Yang PhD, RN, Assistant Professor with Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. This R01 grant provides funding to characterize the taxonomy and function of oral bacteria, viruses and fungi among cognitively normal individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and over a two-year period, investigate relationships among periodontal disease associated microbiome features, inflammation, social determinants of oral health, and AD central cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. The research team led by Dr. Yang includes Dr. Whitney Wharton at Emory School of Nursing.

Alzheimer’s disease affects 6.5 million Americans inflicting tremendous burden on our society both economically and in terms of human suffering, yet the etiology of AD is not fully understood. Risk factors for AD are numerous and include demographic, genetic, lifestyle, medical, environmental, psychiatric, and infectious factors. Among the infectious factors known to be associated with AD is periodontal disease which is a polymicrobial infection of the gingival tissue and one of the most common conditions of the oral cavity. There is a growing interest in the connection between PerioD and AD, yet the mechanism between underlying this association is unknown, and most studies have focused their investigation on a limited number of periodontal disease associated organisms. Currently, a major and fundamental obstacle in the field is the lack of a cross-kingdom (bacterial, viral, fungal), comprehensive characterization of the oral microbiome of periodontal disease as it relates to AD risk. The main objective of this project, therefore, is to comprehensively characterize the taxonomy and function of oral bacteria, viruses and fungi among 150 cognitively normal individuals at risk for AD, and over a two-year period, investigate relationships among PerioD-associated microbiome features, inflammation, social determinants of oral health, and AD CSF biomarkers (Aβ42, total-Tau, and phospho-Tau). The study will leverage Dr. Wharton’s existing NIH funded, well-characterized cohorts that include racially diverse individuals at high risk for AD (through family history or APOE4 allele). Generated data will inform larger NIH funded studies and, to our knowledge, provide the largest and most comprehensive characterization of the oral microbiome in a racially diverse sample of individuals at risk for AD.

Dr. Irene Yang is an Assistant Professor, tenure track, and received her MSN in Nursing Education and PhD in Nursing Research from the University of Louisville in 2014. She continued her research training with a T32 postdoctoral fellowship at Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and was privileged to join the faculty in 2016. Dr. Yang has a growing program of research, scholarship, and expertise on the oral-systemic connection. Her investigations in this area focus on the oral microbiome and inflammation as an underlying mechanism to explain the relationship between poor oral health and extra-oral conditions.

For more information on Dr. Irene Yang, visit her faculty profile. To learn more about the R01 Research Project grant, visit the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website.