Emily Singer | Boston | March 23

Technology Review - Alzheimer's disease has two hallmarks: protein clumps, called plaques, that cluster outside of neurons, and twisted protein fibers, called tangles, that build up inside neurons. In the vast majority of Alzheimer's cases, scientists don't know what triggers build-up of these proteins, and they have been arguing heatedly for years about whether plaques or tangles are the true culprit behind the devastating cognitive decline caused by the disease.

Now scientists at Harvard have identified an enzyme that can block build-up of both plaques and tangles in cellular models -- a finding that could help link these two perplexing neurological problems and provide a new avenue for drug development.