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Although there are a few medications designed to improve  memory deficits in AD subjects, none of these treatments halt or slow down significantly the progression, or delay onset of the  disease in a significant manner. At best, the clinical benefits last 6 to 18 months, and only in a modest subset of patients. Our  pioneering work on the role of genetic risk factors and biomakers in disease etiology and therapy has allowed us to identify several genetic variants and many cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers that affect either, the age of onset, the rate of progression or, the quality of the drug response to memory enhancer medications. The most common genetic defect identified so far involves  critical transporters of brain cholesterol called apolipoprotein E  (apoE), J and B , as well as many of their companion proteins  called ABCA1, ABCG1 and ABCA7, BuChE, CNTN5, FDPS,  GGDPS and the so-called HMGCR, a regulator of cholesterol  synthesis. Using this unique genetic and proteomic information, we have  characterized the biological functions of these key cholesterol  transporter & modulators in the brain and screened a large  number of chemical entities capable of modulating synaptic  plasticity and restoring brain activity of affected AD subjects. This pioneering work led to the successful identification of several  potent inducer agents which have been tested in pre-clinical  research, one of which in phase 2 trials. Inflammation and  cardiovascular biomarkers are also of prime interest in our  research program, especially for their role in the pre-  symptomatic phase of the disease in subjects who are at-risk of developping the disease because of a parental history of  Alzheimer’s disease.  
Research Experience and Opportunities
Research Tools Team Publications  Services and Expertises Team Tools Media Facts Patent Portfolio Team Publication List of key publications describing some of the core discoveries done in the ADGEN unit. Patent Portfolio List of key patents  covering ADGEN research team’s discoveries over the course of the past 30 years.
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