Interview with Dr. Rudy Tanzi: Alzheimer's, persistent infection and innate immunity

Dr. Rudolph (Rudy) E Tanzi is the Vice Chair of Neurology; Director, Genetics and Aging Research Unit; Co-Director, Henry and Allison McCance Center for Brain Health; Co-Director, MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, and the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Much of Rudy’s career has focused on characterizing the human genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. But more recently, his lab has moved into the study of how infectious and innate immune signaling also contribute to the Alzheimer’s disease process. Indeed, his lab has discovered that amyloid “plaque” in the Alzheimer’s brain may actually function as an antimicrobial peptide that forms in response to viral, bacterial, or fungal pathogens in brain tissue.