July 23, 2010 11:10 a.m.

UCI researchers ride for Alzheimer's breakthrough »

UC Irvine neurobiology researchers Frank LaFerla, David Cribbs, Nabil Dagher, Nick Castello and Rodrigo Medeiros are hopping on their bicycles for the first Alzheimer's Breakthrough Ride. On Friday, July 23, Team UCI MIND will pedal from Los Angeles to Palm Springs with dozens of others on one leg of the San Francisco-to-Washington, D.C., cross-country tour. Along the way, event organizers hope to collect 50,000 signatures for a petition urging lawmakers to make Alzheimer's disease a national priority. The petition will be presented to Congress on World Alzheimer's Day, Sept. 21. "We're excited to be able to take part in this ride to call attention to the vital need we're facing today," says LaFerla, director of UCI's Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders. "We researchers are taking this bold step outside our labs to ask Congress and the nation to increase funding for treatment and a cure."

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