Forgetting

An exploration into why not remembering is good for your brain, by a leading memory expert

Scott A. Small MD is the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia University. Dr. Small's lab focuses on disorders that effect the hippocampus, a brain circuit targeted by Alzheimer's disease, the normal wear & tear of the aging process ('cognitive aging'), and schizophrenia. The lab first optimized MRI tools applicable to patients and animal models that were then used to pinpoint the parts of the hippocampal circuit differentially vulnerable and resistant to each disorder (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2011). This anatomical information was then used as a guide to uncover pathogenic drivers (Neuron, 2014): Retromer-dependent endosomal recycling in Alzheimer's disease, dietary flavanols in cognitive aging, and the glutamate metabolic cycle in schizophrenia. Most recently, his lab has been developing interventions and biomarkers for each disorder, and the lab's discoveries were the cornerstone for the formation of a new biotechnology company, Retromer Therapeutics