October 6, 2026
\n12:10\u20131:00 p.m.
\nSAC 147 and Zoom<\/a><\/h3>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-medicine\/uploads\/sites\/3023\/2026\/09\/Dr-Michael-Sierks-396x396.jpg\")
Speaker<\/h4>\n
Michael Sierks, PhD<\/strong>
\nProfessor, Arizona State University – Tempe<\/p>\nDr. Michael Sierks is a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. Sierks’ research interests include antibody-based therapeutics for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Other areas of interest in the Sierks group include ligand\/receptor interactions, catalytic antibodies, and enzyme mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Talk Abstract<\/h4>\n
Although Alzheimer\u2019s disease, AD, is defined pathologically by amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the generation of toxic variants of several neuronal proteins, including amyloid beta, tau, and TDP-43, is increasingly recognized as an early driver of disease progression. We have shown that several key variants of these proteins accumulate in neurons during the early stages of AD and represent promising blood-based biomarkers for early disease detection. We also found that these toxic variants are generated in wild-type mice following either acute stress, induced by mild traumatic brain injury, or chronic stress, induced by sleep disruption. Distinct protein variants were associated with different behavioral outcomes, with pronounced sex-dependent differences. Together, these findings link acute and chronic stress to the generation of toxic protein variants implicated in the early pathogenesis of AD and support their potential utility as biomarkers of disease risk and progression.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Michael Sierks presents Sleep Disruption, Stress and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":[],"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[72,66],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"event_city":"Spokane","event_state":"WA","event_venue":"SAC 147","event_organizer":"","event_organizer_email":"","event_organizer_phone":"","event_organizer_website":"","event_website":"","event_cost":"","event_excerpt":"Presented by Washington State University \u2013 Sleep and Performance Research Center\nSleep Disruption, Stress and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease\nOctober 6, 2026\n12:10\u20131:00 p.m.\nSAC 147 and Zoom\nSpeaker\nMichael Sierks, PhD\nProfessor, Arizona State University – Tempe\nDr. Michael Sierks is a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. Sierks’ research interests include antibody-based therapeutics for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Other areas of interest in the Sierks group include ligand\/receptor interactions, catalytic antibodies, and enzyme mechanisms.\nTalk Abstract\nAlthough Alzheimer\u2019s disease, AD, is defined pathologically by amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the generation of toxic variants of several neuronal proteins, including amyloid beta, tau, and TDP-43, is increasingly recognized as an early driver of disease progression. We have shown that several key variants of these proteins accumulate in neurons during the early stages of AD and represent promising blood-based biomarkers for early disease detection. We also found that these toxic variants are generated in wild-type mice following either acute stress, induced by mild traumatic brain injury, or chronic stress, induced by sleep disruption. Distinct protein variants were associated with different behavioral outcomes, with pronounced sex-dependent differences. Together, these findings link acute and chronic stress to the generation of toxic protein variants implicated in the early pathogenesis of AD and support their potential utility as biomarkers of disease risk and progression.\n ","start_date":"2026-10-06 12:10:00","end_date":"2026-10-06 13:00:00","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37066,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063\/revisions\/37066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=37063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Speaker<\/h4>\n\nProfessor, Arizona State University – Tempe<\/p>\n
Dr. Michael Sierks is a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. Sierks’ research interests include antibody-based therapeutics for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Other areas of interest in the Sierks group include ligand\/receptor interactions, catalytic antibodies, and enzyme mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Talk Abstract<\/h4>\n
Although Alzheimer\u2019s disease, AD, is defined pathologically by amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the generation of toxic variants of several neuronal proteins, including amyloid beta, tau, and TDP-43, is increasingly recognized as an early driver of disease progression. We have shown that several key variants of these proteins accumulate in neurons during the early stages of AD and represent promising blood-based biomarkers for early disease detection. We also found that these toxic variants are generated in wild-type mice following either acute stress, induced by mild traumatic brain injury, or chronic stress, induced by sleep disruption. Distinct protein variants were associated with different behavioral outcomes, with pronounced sex-dependent differences. Together, these findings link acute and chronic stress to the generation of toxic protein variants implicated in the early pathogenesis of AD and support their potential utility as biomarkers of disease risk and progression.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Michael Sierks presents Sleep Disruption, Stress and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":[],"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[72,66],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"event_city":"Spokane","event_state":"WA","event_venue":"SAC 147","event_organizer":"","event_organizer_email":"","event_organizer_phone":"","event_organizer_website":"","event_website":"","event_cost":"","event_excerpt":"Presented by Washington State University \u2013 Sleep and Performance Research Center\nSleep Disruption, Stress and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease\nOctober 6, 2026\n12:10\u20131:00 p.m.\nSAC 147 and Zoom\nSpeaker\nMichael Sierks, PhD\nProfessor, Arizona State University – Tempe\nDr. Michael Sierks is a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. Sierks’ research interests include antibody-based therapeutics for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Other areas of interest in the Sierks group include ligand\/receptor interactions, catalytic antibodies, and enzyme mechanisms.\nTalk Abstract\nAlthough Alzheimer\u2019s disease, AD, is defined pathologically by amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the generation of toxic variants of several neuronal proteins, including amyloid beta, tau, and TDP-43, is increasingly recognized as an early driver of disease progression. We have shown that several key variants of these proteins accumulate in neurons during the early stages of AD and represent promising blood-based biomarkers for early disease detection. We also found that these toxic variants are generated in wild-type mice following either acute stress, induced by mild traumatic brain injury, or chronic stress, induced by sleep disruption. Distinct protein variants were associated with different behavioral outcomes, with pronounced sex-dependent differences. Together, these findings link acute and chronic stress to the generation of toxic protein variants implicated in the early pathogenesis of AD and support their potential utility as biomarkers of disease risk and progression.\n ","start_date":"2026-10-06 12:10:00","end_date":"2026-10-06 13:00:00","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37066,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/37063\/revisions\/37066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=37063"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=37063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}