Dec. 13, 2005 

NYCOM Student's Ground-Breaking Alzheimer's Research

Old Westbury, N.Y., Dec. 7, 2005: Award-winning, ground-breaking Alzheimer’s research by a medical student at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM) of New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) will be published this month in the Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association (ANA).

In addition, the student - Eleonora Gashi, a fourth-year medical student and neuroscience fellow at NYCOM - was awarded a $1,000 travel scholarship to present her research findings to neurological scientists, doctors and students at the ANA conference in San Diego, Calif. this fall.

One of only eight medical students internationally to receive this recognition, Gashi, of Scarsdale, N.Y., was lauded for her abstract titled “Defective NMDA receptor function and signaling in the brain of older transgenic Alzheimer's disease mice.”

“My experiments have shown defects in the signaling mechanisms of the glutamatergic NMDA receptor,” says Gashi. “Elucidation of this defect enables us to understand the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and may possibly serve as a therapeutic target involved in preventing or delaying early memory loss.”

Gashi, who has expressed fascination with the intricacies of the brain, was inspired to study Alzheimer’s disease because of her close relationship with her grandparents. Although they do not have the disease, she became concerned with the increasing number of cases of the disease in America, due to increased lifespan. “By 2025 a large number of our hospital beds will be filled with Alzheimer patients,” she says. “We need to do something about it now, before baby boomers get to that stage.”

It is estimated that some 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive, degenerative, neurological condition that affects memory, thinking, behavior and emotion. While research such as Gashi’s is helping the medical community to learn more about the disease, currently the cause is unknown and there is no cure.

As a NYCOM fellow, Gashi teaches neuroscience to second-year medical students, prepares laboratory lessons and conducts research. She plans to continue her medical studies at NYCOM and eventually combine academic teaching with patient care.

NYCOM of NYIT is the only osteopathic school of medicine in New York State, and the only medical school in Nassau County. Chartered in 1977, NYCOM is committed to training osteopathic physicians for a lifetime of medical practice, and fosters careers in primary care and the scholarly pursuit of knowledge concerning human health and disease. Based in Old Westbury, N.Y., NYCOM has one of the most diverse student medical school populations in the country and has produced more than 4,000 alumni who are practicing medicine in every state of the nation. NYCOM offers fellowships in anatomy, osteopathic manipulative medicine and neuroscience.

About NYIT

NYIT is the college of choice for more than 14,000 students currently enrolled in more than 100 courses of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees from eight schools, including engineering, architecture, business, communication arts and medicine. A private, independent college, NYIT embraces an educational philosophy of career-oriented, professional education for all qualified students, and supports applications-oriented research to benefit the greater global community. Students attend classes at NYIT’s Manhattan and Long Island campuses, as well as online and in a number of programs throughout the world. To date, more than 66,000 alumni have earned degrees at NYIT. For additional information, visit www.nyit.edu.

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Contact: mediarelations@nyit.edu