It's also an extremely important medical condition to treat. If you show promise of a breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's, you can save hundreds of thousands of minds every single year. With the upcoming wave of elderly in the US, the cost of untreated Alzheimer's is predicted to skyrocket.
Last I checked, it wasn't clear whether the amyloid plaque buildup was a cause or side effect of Alzheimer's. Has the understanding of this changed in the past four years?
