Northwestern PPA Fest

TDP-C – A disease like no other disease

Marsel Mesulam, MD

Marsel will outline the triangular relationships among word comprehension, anterior temporal lobe, and TDP-C.

Distribution and alterations of normal TDP-43 in TDP-C vs TDP-A

Changiz Geula, PhD

TDP-43 is a normally occurring nuclear protein with a very important function. Changiz will report preliminary investigations of differences in the nuclear TDP-43 distribution in TDP-C vs TDP-A.

Annexin A11 – the new kid on the block

Allegra Kawles

Allegra will report our cryolectronmicroscopy collaboration and immunohistochemistry of ANEXA11 in TDP-C.

Anatomy and dendritic nature of TDP-43 pathology in TDP-C

Allegra Kawles

Allegra will report unpublished findings on the dendritic nature of TDP neurites in TDP-C.

Spatial transcriptomic characterization of FTLD-TDP Type C pathology

David Gate, PhD

David will report preliminary findings on the transcriptomic patterns of the anterior temporal lobe and the next steps to take to understand why this part of the brain is so susceptible to TDP-C.

The corticospinal variant of TDP-C

Rudolph Castellani, MD

Rudy will report some of our findings on TDP-C with and without corticospinal tract degeneration and how this differs from TDP-B with ALS.

Refreshment Break

Anatomy of semantic blurring in TDP-C

Elena Barbieri, PhD

Elena will report new findings on the parallelism between taxonomic interference and progression of ATL atrophy in TDP-C.

Anatomical progression of neurodegeneration in TDP-C 

Jane Stocks, PhD

TDP-C is arguably the only known neuropathologic entity that invariably hits the ATL first. Jane will report new findings on where the hit starts and how it evolves neuroanatomically.

Activation versus atrophy and network integrity in TDP-C

Anna Shinn

Up to now, atrophy has been considered the gold standard for neurodegeneration. Rod will report new single-subject investigations on the physiological correlates of atrophy in TDP-C.

Atrophy versus hypometabolism in TDP-C

Jordan Behn, MS

Jordan will report how regional metabolism in TDP-C strengthens the role of ATL vs TPJ in word comprehension.

Clinical trials in TDP-C

Ian Grant, MD

Ian will describe the first-ever TDP-C pharmacologic trial that we are participating in.

Lunch and Group Photo

Why PPA? From rare disease to paradigm

Marsel Mesulam, MD

Marsel will explain why PPA research has implications beyond the PPA syndrome; how the asymmetry & etc. create unique opportunities for investigating selective vulnerability and anatomy of language. This should offer context for the rest of the day.

Network anatomy of aphasia in 4R tauopathy

Borna Bonakdarpour, MD, FAAN

Borna will share new findings on metabolic confirmation of reduced network connectivity as the basis of agrammatism in 4R tauopathies where cortical atrophy is initially inconspicuous.

1:15 PM - 1:30 PM 

Neuropathology of sentence production in agrammatic PPA

Elena Barbieri, PhD

Elena will report that agrammatism caused by two different pathologies may have different anatomical substrates.

1:30 PM - 1:45 PM 

PPA and FTLD-Tau: An attempt to disentangle clinicopathologic heterogeneity

Tamar Gefen, PhD

Tamar will describe new findings on agrammatic PPA caused by 4R vs 3R tauopathies.

1:45 PM - 2:00 PM  

Refreshment Break

2:00 PM - 2:15 PM 

Pathology-specific aphasias

Sandra Weintraub, PhD

Sandy will report new calculations of sensitivity and selectivity of individual language domains for detecting underlying pathology.

Investigating physiology, microstructure, and neuroinflammation with advanced neuroimaging

Todd Parrish, PhD

Most of the MRI data we collect remains unused. Todd will report initial analyses on the potential usefulness of DTI and ASL for PPA studies with selected examples, for example correlation of ASL with metabolic PET scans in PPA with 3R and 4R tauopathies.

PPA Tele-Savvy: Results of an online pilot intervention with caregivers of persons with Primary Progressive Aphasia

Darby Morhardt, PhD, LCSW

Darby will report new findings related to an online intervention targeted to family caregivers of persons living with PPA, specifically, results from PPA Tele-Savvy, an adaptation of the evidence-based psychoeducational program Tele-Savvy.

The wordless world of PPA

Michelle Los, MS

Michelle will describe non-verbal creativity in PPA patients.