More than 400 scientists participated in the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium Annual Scientific Conference on Sept. 11.

Mayo Clinic, one of the original seven members of the consortium, hosted the conference at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, and there were more than 100 attendees who tuned in via Zoom.  Alzheimer's disease prevention and risk reduction were key focus areas of the 2023 Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium Scientific Conference, where Dr. Kristine Yaffe gave the keynote lecture. Photo by Brandon Nazari/Edson College Download Full Image

Participants were welcomed in person by Dr. William Faubion Jr., Mayo Clinic Arizona’s dean of research and associate medical director of the Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics. There was also a video welcome featuring Mayo Clinic Arizona CEO Dr. Richard Gray and ASU President Michael Crow. 

A primary focus of this year’s event was disease prevention efforts, an area keynote speaker Dr. Kristine Yaffe dedicates her science to.  

“I think there are several really promising ways we can reduce risk. There are things I think we can do right now that are low cost and don’t have a lot of side effects,” she told attendees. 

Yaffe is an internationally recognized expert in the epidemiology of dementia and cognitive aging and the foremost leader in identifying modifiable risk factors for dementia.  

Those risk-reduction strategies include improving sleep, reducing the risk of traumatic brain injury, getting enough physical activity and addressing cardiovascular issues.  

Yaffe pointed out that while it’s believed that 30–40% of Alzheimer’s disease risk might be modifiable, there needs to be a better understanding of modifiable risk factors in diverse populations.  

Another area for more research is prevention trials that combine the use of drug therapy and risk reduction strategies.  

“We shouldn’t be talking about drug therapies or risk reduction; they have to come together. We can’t think of these as separate. We need to know how these things work together,” Yaffe said. 

ASU University Professor Eric Reiman, who is also the executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium, shared there is real promise on the preventative drug therapy side. 

“We’re doing ongoing prevention trials right now of the very same treatments that were just shown to work,” Reiman said. 

The goal is to find and support the approval and availability of the first secondary Alzheimer’s prevention therapies in the next three years for those who have blood test evidence of amyloid plaques but are not yet cognitively impaired.  

Microorganisms exist all around us, interacting closely with their living host organisms. We know that these microbes are critical to the way our world functions, but we still have so much to learn about how they affect host biology. 

A new course at Arizona State University is putting students at the forefront of this rapidly growing field of study. Created by School of Life Sciences Assistant Professor Nsa Dada, Host Microbe Interactions is a course-based research experience designed to give students the chance to engage in the full process of research — from research development and design to sample collection, handling and molecular analysis; bioinformatics analysis; and synthesis and communication of findings. Host Microbe Interactions is a course-based research experience that gives students hands-on experience conducting research as they work to determine how changes in the microbiome of local mosquito populations affects mosquito biology and, subsequently, disease transmission. Photo courtesy School of Life Sciences/ASU Download Full Image

“Just being able to have a teacher that can (oversee) what you are doing really helps with confidence. That way, when we get out to the work field, out to the industry, we aren’t scared to do our jobs,” said Ricardo Chapa, who graduated in the summer of 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biosciences and biotechnology.

Students in the new course examine host-microbe interactions by studying the world’s deadliest animal: the mosquito.

RELATED: Inside the insectary: ASU faculty innovate mosquito control and disease prevention

As a vector biologist and microbial ecologist, Dada is interested in how microbes shape mosquito biology and mosquito-borne disease transmission. She is the founder and lead of the Mosquito Microbiome Consortium, leads pioneering and award-winning research on microbe-mediated evolution of insecticide resistance in mosquito populations around the world, and leads initiatives toward expanding disease vector genomics research in Africa.

The research aim of the first iteration of the Host Microbe Interactions course in spring 2023 was to characterize the microbiome of mosquito populations within Maricopa County as a baseline for monitoring changes in the microbiome over time in response to environmental pressures like insecticide use. 

Students used a next-generation sequencing technique called high throughput amplicon sequencing to process samples, and then analyzed the resulting data using a Python platform called QIIME 2 (Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology), an advanced bioinformatics tool.  

“It’s cutting edge; one of the coolest skills you can have as a biologist is computational biology. We have supercomputers on our laptops,” Chapa said. 

“A lot of people in this class, including myself, have been coding for the first or second time, so it’s definitely a shift in how you think about things. I’m getting a lot out of it,” said Don Ward, a first-year PhD student in biology.

“I am thankful for my very first cohort of students at ASU,” Dada said. “I am really proud of how far they have come and I could not have asked for a better group of people to begin my journey here at ASU.”

Hands-on research experience is an invaluable part of the academic journey for students pursuing STEM degrees. 

“I can read things all day but until I practically get in the lab and make mistakes, and feel and see how long it takes things, and just play around, I’m not going to really retain anything,” said Sarah Rydberg, biology graduate student and research specialist in the Center for Evolution and Medicine.  

“It’s nice having a block of time for me to do both of these things, and I think it will make me a stronger employee overall,” she added.

Video courtesy ASU's School of Life Sciences

Firsthand experience with laboratory procedures and techniques, computational biology and bioinformatics methods prepare students for future opportunities in graduate programs, medical school and research careers. 

“It’s certainly good for resumes later on, when you tell the employer I have experience with mosquitos, with plants, DNA extraction, purification, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), gel electrophoresis. When you name all those things, they recognize that a student is well prepared to be in the field, to work,” said Osami Alani, a molecular bioscience and biotech major who graduated in May 2023. 

“Other than that, it’s pretty fun; if you like what you’re doing, it’s pretty fun,” Alani added.

Host Microbe Interactions was held for the very first time in spring 2023 and has now entered its second cohort. The overarching goal for students of this second iteration of the course is to determine how changes in the microbiome of local mosquito populations affects mosquito biology and, subsequently, disease transmission. The research outcomes could potentially be leveraged for mitigating mosquito-borne diseases.

In addition to being an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences, Dada is affiliated with the Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics. She joined ASU in the fall of 2022, and Host Microbe Interactions is the first course she has created for the School of Life Sciences. It is an integral part of her new public health and educational program at ASU, which explores the use of the mosquito microbiome as a tool for monitoring mosquito population and disease transmission dynamics. 

The research that comes out of the Host Microbe Interactions course has the potential to serve as an early warning system for potential mosquito-borne disease outbreaks or the detection of insecticide resistance hotspots in Maricopa County. To that end, Dada is establishing new collaborations with the county's vector control unit to combine efforts toward controlling mosquito-borne diseases in the county.

Every job poses occupational hazards. Some are easily prevented, as when carpenters learn how to avoid smashing their thumbs with a hammer. Others are more complex and not as easily identified or overcome.

If not dealt with properly, such hazards can have lasting detrimental effects, according to a crisis interventionist who spoke to caregivers about compassion fatigue at the recent Summer Institute for Behavioral Health hosted by the Arizona State University School of Social Work. Photo courtesy Pixabay Download Full Image

Compassion fatigue affects individuals who work directly with trauma survivors. People such as nurses, case managers, supervisors, psychologists, social workers, therapists and first responders can suffer from potentially harmful effects of compassion fatigue, said Denise Beagley.

Beagley is the associate director of crisis and justice systems of complete care for Banner Health and has taught at the School of Social Work. She is also a crisis interventionist for the Chandler Fire Department. Her seminar was titled “Occupational Hazard: Overcoming Compassion Fatigue.”

Professor Charles Figley of Pennsylvania State University called compassion fatigue “the cost of caring.” In a 2006 book, “Compassion Fatigue in the Animal-Care Community,” Figley defined it as “the deep physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion that can result from working day to day in an intense caregiving environment.”

“Working in this field, we cannot avoid being affected by the populations that we serve,” Beagley said. “But we can work at lessening the absorption of it.”

Compassion fatigue doesn’t only affect professionals. Beagley said a study she read reported that before the COVID-19 pandemic, 65 million Americans were caring for another person or persons.

Symptoms include hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, sleeplessness or nightmares, and a pervasive negative attitude, said Beagley, who teaches self-care techniques to neutralize compassion fatigue.

‘Get over it’ attitude can be harmful

Beagley has been teaching this topic for 11 years. She often uses the idea of a traffic signal to help caregivers identify where they are: green is feeling fulfilled, yellow is not so much, and red is feeling bad.

She said she’s found people in the compassionate professions generally feel positively about treating a close family member or friend who is suffering, but have negative thoughts about helping themselves deal with similar feelings — a sort of “get over it” attitude that can be harmful.

“In our job, part of it is to keep going, go on empty, and we expect things to change. But our fixes don’t work,” Beagley said. “How many times do you say, ‘I need a drink’ or ‘I need to call in sick’ because you’re so stressed out? We become consumed with our work even in our off-hours. We deny it, we stuff those things down into that five-gallon Home Depot bucket of bad stuff. You have to dump it out and fill it with good stuff.”

Sometimes professionals cope with trauma in unhealthy ways, such as with drugs or alcohol, she said.

“We don’t express our feelings because we think we’re the helpers and we shouldn’t need help,” Beagley said. “I walk them through that. I say what is draining my tank, then I ask them to say what’s draining theirs. Write it down. What are you excited about? Stressed about? If you can, how do you limit your access to negative effects?”

‘Find someone smarter’

Professional helpers need time to heal what Beagley called “emotional fractures,” just as they would treat a physical fracture.

“Unload your bucket in a safe place. Ask for help,” she said. “If you are the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Find someone smarter. Don’t take more work on. It takes time to reverse it.”

Beagley said she once spoke to a police officer who experienced a traumatic incident but didn’t take leave afterward to deal with it.

“I asked him how he was coping, and he said he was drinking more, and you could almost see the light bulb go on,” she said.

In another instance, a firefighter approached Beagley and asked, “What is this stuff called compassion fatigue? I don’t think I have it.” She showed him a list of symptoms.

“He said, ‘I have every one of those symptoms.’”

Beagley advises caregivers to ask what’s out of balance in their lives to help them “stay in the green.”

“If you keep driving on a tire that’s out of balance, you could have a blowout,” she said. “Take inventory on your out-of-balance wheel.”

A few other tips for caregivers:

• Practice positivity. Have a positive relationship with yourself.
• Counter one negative thought with six positive thoughts.
• Borrowing a phrase from Ted Lasso, the eponymous character of the recent Apple TV+ series: “Be 1% better than you were yesterday.”

The School of Social Work is part of the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.

Benjamin Y. Fong, associate director at Arizona State University's Center for Work and Democracy, published his latest book, "Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge," with Verso Books this July.

The center will host two events celebrating "Quick Fixes" on Tuesday, Sept. 12: a virtual event from 10:30 a.m.–noon, in which Fong will discuss the book with center Director Michael McQuarrie, and an in-person book launch from 3– 4:30 p.m. in room 135 of West Hall on the ASU Tempe campus. Benjamin Y. Fong is an associate teaching professor and Honors Faculty Fellow in ASU's Barrett, The Honors College, as well as an associate director at ASU's Center for Work and Democracy. Download Full Image

The in-person event will feature a conversation with Fong, ASU Associate Professor Alexander Aviña and Barrett Honors Faculty Chair Jenny Brian. Both events are free and open to the public. Register to attend the events here.

In advance of those events, Fong, who is also an associate teaching professor and Honors Faculty Fellow in Barrett, The Honors College at ASU, talks about "Quick Fixes" in relation to his broader work as a researcher and teacher.

Note: Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Question: Like many of your colleagues at Barrett, your research is broadly interdisciplinary. How did you come to drugs as a focus of your research?

Answer: I noticed that more and more people were experimenting with drugs and talking to me about their drug use — people who did not fit the stereotypical mold of “drug user.” And looking into the data, I found indeed that Americans are in the midst of a world-historic drug binge. Across the board, from opioids to amphetamines, marijuana to antipsychotics, Americans are using more drugs than ever and the trends are all going up. At the same time, we’ve got the largest prison system in the world, with a full one-fifth of prisoners in for nonviolent drug offenses. It’s a massive contradiction, and I wrote the book to try to make sense of it.

Q: For several years, you have been teaching an upper-division honors seminar at Barrett on drugs in America. Did teaching this class in some sense inspire "Quick Fixes"?

A: Very much so. Drugs and drug policies are great lenses through which to examine many things about American society, from the egregious marketing practices of large corporations to the particular stressors of everyday life. The ways in which my students have connected with the topic, and in which they can express their ambivalence about American society through their ambivalence about drugs, have really stuck with me and were a key motivator to pursue the project.

Q: The response to the book since publication has been impressive, with a mention in the New York Times and reviews all over; you've also had the chance to talk about it on more podcasts than I can count. Anything surprising to you about the reception so far?

A: Well, I’m still waiting on that devastating review that will get me to rethink some of the core claims of the book, but for now, I’m just pleasantly surprised by the warm reception. One thing that some respondents are quite surprised by is that I’m critical of both drug warriorism, which has historically come from the political right, as well as liberal drug reformism. ... I think we need protection from both the drug war and drug peddling alike, and for that we can’t simply legalize and destigmatize. We need instead broader changes to American society.

Q: If you could prognosticate based on your historical research, what do you imagine the most profound changes in our national relationship with drugs will be over the course of the next few years?

A: I don’t make any predictions in the book, except for one: The psychedelics market is going to expand greatly in the next decade. It’s expected now that MDMA will be FDA-approved in the first or second quarter of 2024, and likely psilocybin will follow soon thereafter. There is an alignment of interests today that makes the moment ripe: earnest psychedelic therapy practitioners from below, who see the healing potential of these drugs, combined with powerful corporate actors at the top, who finally see some profit-making potential in these drugs. And then there’s the broader mental health crisis in America, as well as the decrepit state of psychiatry. The solution is really overdetermined, and so I think we’re going to see a mainstreaming of psychedelics.