The AD/PD™ Podcast: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases

In this episode, Dr. Soeren Mattke, physician and health services researcher at the University of Southern California, explores the growing role of blood-based biomarkers in the diagnosis and evaluation of Alzheimer’s disease.

He discusses how blood tests could make Alzheimer’s diagnosis faster, more accurate, and more scalable, helping to reduce pressure on specialist services and integrate diagnosis more effectively into primary care. The episode also examines their potential applications beyond initial detection, including disease staging, risk stratification, prognostication, and treatment monitoring.

In this episode, we spotlight Plenary Lectures 01 and 02 from the AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference, held on March 17, 2026. The lectures were chaired by Sandra O. Moose (USA) and Prof. Gabriel Gold (Switzerland).

Plenary Lecture 01, "Understanding Neurodegenerative Diseases Today: Lessons from Clinicopathological Correlations and the Ongoing Role of Neuropathology in the Biomarker Age," was presented by Prof. Lea Grinberg (USA). Plenary Lecture 02, the Eric N. Birch Lecture, "Key Sleep Issues Pertinent to the Development and Progression of Neurodegeneration in Lewy Body Disease and Related Disorders," was presented by Prof. Bradley Boeve (USA).

Key highlights from this session include:

• Why biomarker positivity alone can oversimplify disease biology — illustrated by patients with positive Alzheimer's biomarkers but very different syndromes and autopsy findings
• How the predictive value of a positive biomarker depends heavily on age and pretest probability, a growing concern as blood-based tests reach beyond specialty clinics
• Copathology as the rule rather than the exception in Alzheimer's, helping explain why symptoms, trajectories and treatment responses vary so widely
• Neuropathology as an active field still defining new targets — from LATE, ARTAG and caspase-6-truncated tau to TMEM106B and annexin A11 pathologies
• Evidence that neuromodulatory subcortical nuclei, including the locus coeruleus and orexinergic neurons, may be affected before the entorhinal cortex, reframing early neuropsychiatric symptoms as manifestations of the earliest biology
• REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) as a prodromal synucleinopathy, present in roughly 80–85% of dementia with Lewy bodies and often preceding other features by years or decades
• Data showing about 80% of individuals with isolated RBD phenoconvert to Parkinson's disease, DLB or MSA within 14 years, though timing and phenotype remain unpredictable
• The state-dissociation framework linking DLB with narcolepsy, and the orexin system as a key stabilizer of the sleep-wake switch and a potential therapeutic target
• Isolated RBD as one of the best windows for disease-modifying intervention, supported by longitudinal platforms such as NAPS, PPMI and the International RBD Study Group

Together, these lectures established two complementary messages for clinicians and researchers: neuropathology remains essential for correct biological interpretation in the biomarker era, and sleep and subcortical systems may offer some of the earliest, most actionable signals of neurodegeneration in both Alzheimer's and Lewy body disease.

This episode is particularly relevant for neurologists, neuroscientists, neuropathologists, sleep medicine specialists, translational scientists, clinical trialists, biomarker researchers, and biotech and pharma professionals working across Alzheimer's disease and synucleinopathies.

This podcast was created using AI to provide a concise and insightful summary of an AD/PD™ 2026 session. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, listeners are encouraged to consult official conference materials for detailed information.

The AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and related neurological disorders took place March 17–21, 2026, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

🔗 https://adpd.kenes.com

In this episode, we spotlight Plenary Lecture 03, the Don Price Memorial Lecture, "Five Critical Inflection Points in Alzheimer's: Guideposts for Smarter Drug Development," that took place on March 18, 2026 at the AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference.

The session was chaired by Prof. Sangram Sisodia (USA) and presented by Prof. Bart De Strooper (Belgium), delivered as the third annual lecture honoring Donald L. Price, a foundational figure in Alzheimer's and neurodegeneration research.

Key highlights from this session include:
• A reframing of Alzheimer's as a staged biological process defined by critical inflection points, rather than through the late, nonspecific endpoint of dementia — by which time irreversible neuronal loss has already occurred
• A modern, qualitative amyloid hypothesis: what matters is not only how much amyloid is produced, but the shift toward longer, more aggregation-prone Aβ species such as Aβ42 and Aβ43, supported by familial APP and presenilin genetics
• Evidence that microglia are active participants in amyloid fibril formation and compaction, not merely passive plaque-clearing cells
• A cellular response phase in which plaques create local "tissue domains" of glial reprogramming, with higher polygenic risk linked to stronger inflammatory responses
• Tau induction as the pivotal bridge to widespread neurodegeneration, shown using human iPSC-derived neurons transplanted into amyloid-bearing models that develop phospho-tau pathology and release plasma-detectable tau
• Evidence that pathological tau can trigger necroptosis-associated neuronal death, supported by human brain tissue and tau-seeding experiments
• The value of plasma phospho-tau217 as a breakthrough biomarker signaling the transition from an amyloid-dominant to a tau-engaged disease stage
• Therapeutic implications centered on timing — why anti-amyloid antibodies work by engaging microglia yet offer only modest late-stage benefit, and why gamma-secretase modulators and mechanism-based anti-tau strategies may prove more precise

Prof. De Strooper closed with a threshold-based framework in which each brain is a mosaic of tissue domains at different disease stages — implying that combination therapy will likely be necessary and that biomarker-guided intervention must come as early as possible. The central message for clinicians and researchers was clear: the key challenge is no longer only what to target, but when to intervene, matching the right mechanism to the right disease phase.

This episode is particularly relevant for neurologists, neuroscientists, translational scientists, clinical trialists, biotech and pharma professionals, biomarker researchers, and academic investigators working across Alzheimer's disease and neurodegeneration.

This podcast was created using AI to provide a concise and insightful summary of an AD/PD™ 2026 session. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, listeners are encouraged to consult official conference materials for detailed information.

The AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and related neurological disorders took place March 17–21, 2026, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
🔗 https://adpd.kenes.com

In this episode, we will cover the Fireside Debate "Moonshots and Milestones: Is the Future of Neurodegeneration Drug Discovery in Startups, Big Pharma, or Academia?" that took place on March 17, 2026 at the AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference.

The debate was moderated by Dr. Henrietta Nielsen (Sweden) and Prof. Philip Scheltens (Netherlands), with expert contributions from Dr. Geoffrey Kerchner (Switzerland), Prof. Cynthia Lemere (USA), Dr. Mark Mintun (USA), Dr. Marco Prado (Canada), and Prof. Niranjan Bose (USA).

Key highlights from this session include:
• The field has moved from repeated uncertainty to cautious optimism, anchored by disease-modifying anti-amyloid therapies that demonstrably slow Alzheimer's progression
• Acceptance of biological heterogeneity in dementia, and how biomarker-driven stratification has reshaped diagnosis and trial design
• The persistent gap between biomarker change and clinically meaningful outcomes, with cognition, function and independence remaining the endpoints that matter most
• Blood-based biomarkers as potentially transformative for moving diagnosis beyond specialist centers into neurology clinics and primary care
• Complementary views on the field's bottlenecks — surrogate endpoints and recruitment for industry, funding and slow translation for academia, outdated cognitive tools, and fragmented data infrastructure
• The growing role of AI, multimodal data and data harmonization, alongside recognition that neurodegeneration still lags other fields in deploying AI
• Strong support for combination therapy, with anti-amyloid treatment as an anchor and tau-directed or anti-inflammatory strategies layered on top
• A closing consensus on the ideal ecosystem: openness, cross-sector collaboration, data sharing, smarter enrollment, sustained patient engagement, and support for early-career investigators

The panel conveyed that disease modification is now real but still modest, that blood-based biomarkers are poised to reshape diagnostic and treatment pathways, and that future progress will depend on combination approaches, better surrogate markers, and coordinated collaboration across the neurodegeneration ecosystem. Encouragingly, participants agreed the next breakthrough should not take another 25 years — the field now has working therapies, sharper tools, and better biological resolution than ever before.

This episode is particularly relevant for neurologists, clinical trialists, translational scientists, biotech and pharma professionals, academic researchers, data and AI experts, and patient advocacy leaders working across the neurodegenerative disease landscape.
This podcast was created using AI to provide a concise and insightful summary of an AD/PD™ 2026 session. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, listeners are encouraged to consult official conference materials for detailed information.
The AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and related neurological disorders took place March 17–21, 2026, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
🔗 https://adpd.kenes.com

In this episode, we spotlight Forum Discussion 08 from the AD/PD™ 2025 International Conference — “Drug Development & Biomarkers in Rare CNS Diseases (ALS, FTD) from Basics to Approval – How to Define Success.”

The discussion was moderated by Prof. Angela Genge (Canada) and Prof. Laura Ranum (USA), with expert contributions from Dr. Francesca Cignarella (USA), Prof. Guy Rouleau (Canada), Dr. Toby Ferguson (USA), and Prof. Patrick Weydt (Germany).

Key highlights from this session include:

• Advances in drug development for rare neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
• Lessons learned from antisense oligonucleotide therapies, including SOD1-targeting approaches that have shown meaningful clinical impact in ALS
• The growing importance of genetic stratification, enabling earlier and more targeted intervention in both symptomatic and presymptomatic individuals
• How insights from related disorders, such as Huntington’s disease, are informing biomarker development, including the interpretation of neurofilament signals
• The critical role of biomarkers in guiding clinical trials, measuring disease-relevant outcomes, and accelerating regulatory approval
• The power of public–private partnerships, exemplified by initiatives such as the ALS Accelerating Medicines Partnership
• The need for data sharing, collaboration, and patient involvement to overcome the challenges inherent in rare disease research
• New infrastructure efforts, including the upcoming ALS Knowledge Platform, aimed at integrating data across studies to drive discovery

The panel emphasized that success in rare CNS disease research requires not only scientific innovation, but also coordinated global collaboration, smarter trial design, and biomarkers that truly reflect disease biology. While challenges remain, the session conveyed strong optimism that genetics-driven approaches and shared data ecosystems will accelerate progress for ALS and FTD.

This episode is particularly relevant for neurologists, translational researchers, clinical trialists, biotech and pharma professionals, patient advocacy leaders, and regulators working in rare neurodegenerative diseases.

This podcast was created using AI to provide a concise and insightful summary of an AD/PD™ 2025 session. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, listeners are encouraged to consult official conference materials for detailed information.

The AD/PD™ 2025 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders took place April 1–5, 2025, in Vienna, Austria.
🔗 https://adpd.kenes.com