The Burden of a Gene

A variant called APOE4 is notorious for its link to Alzheimer’s. Can new insights into its function help stave off disease? Carol Turner and her brother Ray Smith have seen up close what it’s like to live with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2020, their father died of it at age 93 in a dementia ward, after months of seeing his family through a window because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after, their mother showed the signs—she had trouble sleeping, she couldn’t recognize some faces, and her beloved brownie recipe didn’t come out quite right. Brain scans revealed abundant beta-amyloid, the sticky protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.