Domenico Praticò, a professor of pharmacology and immunology and microbiology in Temple’s School of Medicine, has awarded a $60,000 research grant by the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) to investigate the role psychological stress plays in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Praticò will focus on how altered or increased stress hormone levels can accelerate the development of Alzheimer’s. He hopes to unlock the mechanisms that trigger this biological effect, allowing them to develop therapeutic strategies to block the negative effects of psychological stress and prevent Alzheimer’s.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org) is a national, grassroots organization whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research through art. This is the 11th grant AAQI has awarded for Alzheimer’s research. In the last three years, AAQI has awarded research grants totaling more than $305,000.

The research grants are made possible in large part from income generated by the selling of small quilts made by supporters. Quilts are offered in monthly auctions, sold outright on the AAQI website and at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX, each fall.