Standout Research in Missouri Suggests Pigs Could Support Alzheimer’s Cure

Researchers at the University of Missouri have created a first-of-its-kind genetically engineered pig model that could unlock new pathways to preventing Alzheimer's disease—before it ever starts.

By University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources — summarized for agInnovation

Kiho Lee works with graduate students in his lab.

More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease today, and there is still no drug that can reverse its course. Scientists at the University of Missouri are pursuing a surprising path toward changing that—and it starts with a pig.

Kiho Lee, an associate professor in Mizzou's Division of Animal Sciences, has created a first-of-its-kind genetically engineered pig that carries a mutation linked to early-onset familial Alzheimer's—the rare, inherited form of the disease that can strike people in their 30s and 40s. Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the work opens a new window into the earliest stages of the disease, long before patients typically show up at a clinic.

Why a pig? Unlike mice—the traditional go-to for Alzheimer's research—pigs share a much closer brain structure and genetic profile with humans. They're also cognitively sophisticated enough to navigate memory mazes, allowing researchers to track cognitive changes over time. The model has already revealed early signs of neuroinflammation, a hallmark of Alzheimer's, before more severe symptoms develop.

What makes this work possible is a rare combination: Mizzou's National Swine Resource and Research Center, one of the only facilities of its kind in the country, and sustained NIH funding that supports a multidisciplinary team of faculty, graduate students, and master's students. It's a reminder that America's land-grant universities are doing far more than farming science, and that the infrastructure built through decades of public investment is what allows breakthroughs like this to happen.

Want to know more about how a college of agriculture is taking on one of medicine's hardest problems? Read the full story and share it with someone who should know this research is happening.

Read the full story: Mizzou Scientists Create a Novel Pig Model for Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease

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