Zenith Fellows Award winner Dr. Ertekin-Taner explains in detail the complex procedure that her laboratory team follows as well as their hopes for the future. With a devoted mission to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s, their approach utilizes state-of-the-art technology to analyze tissue, such as blood samples and brain matter that is donated by those diagnosed with the illness. “The technology is there for us to be able to really profile the information, to really be a detective and try and deconvolute this complexity.” The neurologists then examine the genome of the tissue at a very fine scale while taking into account any images of the brain or cognitive information provided about the tissue’s donor. The sample from the individual with Alzheimer’s disease is then compared to an individual without the disease to pinpoint the differences between the two samples and hopefully determine the cause. This allows neurologists to identify biomarkers from the genome, ultimately aiding their research in discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. “The goal is, at the end of the day, to be able to identify and personalize drugs and drug cocktails for our patients.” The neurologist explains that using these biomarkers, drug cocktails can possibly be created to slow the disease in a patient, and hopefully one day cure it.