On January 25th, the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative awarded a $35,000 grant to The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for a study called ”Protective Mechanisms Against Alzheimer’s Disease.” The work will be conducted by Dr. Nicole L. Bjorklund. The award was presented by AAQI board member Kathy Kennedy-Dennis.
Dr. Bjorklund will investigate why some individuals remain cognitively intact despite the presence of abundant plaques and tangles in their brains. The amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the two hallmark lesions found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Bjorklund was presented with a quilt made by Kathy Kennedy-Dennis. It contains names of people who have or had Alzheimer’s or a related dementia printed on the “wrong side” of purple patches. The names were submitted by supporters of the AAQI honoring their loved ones and the 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s.
“We will cherish it,” wrote Dr. Bjorklund in an email thanking the AAQI for the grant. “I have already hung it up.”
Dr. Lucian SoaneA small Name Quilt is being stitched now for Dr. Soane.
These three grant awards (see also Texas A & M), made by the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative during the month of January, represent the most research projects funded in a single month since the AAQI became a nonprofit in 2008.
Researchers interested in obtaining funding from the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative must meet certain criteria and fill out a detailed application. Their application is submitted to the AAQI Scientific Advisory Board for review. The Board of Directors of the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative receives their recommendations and makes the final decision on funding.
We are most grateful to the scientists who make up our Scientific Advisory Board and thank them for donating their expertise. Vetting AAQI applications is a time-consuming task which requires a thorough knowledge of the field along with a keen understanding of best research practices, budgeting, and time management evaluation. They are all very busy people and yet have made the AAQI a priority in their lives and we thank them sincerely.
DISCLOSURES
Michele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey through her life in Salem, Oregon and Douglas, Alaska and all of her AAQI Quilting. Sharing thousands of links to Free Quilt and Quilt Block Patterns and encouraging others to join in the Liberated Quilting Challenge and make or donate small art quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) Help us change the world, one little quilt at a time!
