Lost in the Tangles: Journey and Genes of Alzheimer's

Genegeek and I co-developed "Lost in the Tangles: Journey and Genes of Alzheimer's" to enter into GeneScreenbc's 2011 video competition.  The project was geared toward education and was 

"targeted towards those interested in creating short films aimed at educating students in grades 8 to 12 about any topic related to the role of genetics and genomics in human health." [Genescreenbc]

Genegeek and I decided to give it a try, our first attempt. We had a great time working together on it, with our HS student video editor--a sweet trifecta considering the goal of the project.  


As to the relevance of Alzheimer's to an infectious disease website--there is no known infectious disease cause. However, inflammation plays a key role in Alzheimer's pathology.

Please view the video and "like" it if you wish to vote for us--there is a People's Choice Award for the one with the most "likes."

Regardless of the outcome, the three of us have won a fantastic experience.

In tribute to memory, here is J.S. Lee...

it's a process

head tipped back and lens out of focus

i sip the last dregs of sunlight

from a summer fast fading,

etching her colors black-inked into tomorrow,

tracing my words into the wet cement of eternity.

my steps quicken to match the fall

of the leaves over old brick in the city’s

East end, my footfalls small

miracles of blurry substance in a brittle

dream.

but the words

just won’t flow like

they’re supposed; they start and they

stutter over roots in the sidewalk, getting lost in the

mutter of leaves and passing traffic and sometimes

when the light recalls just perfectly

the way it used to fall

through your bedroom blinds in

September’s late mornings, then

the muscles at the top of my throat

close up and in the sudden rush of air

that i swallow to

push the memories back

down into oblivion, they

vanish altogether,

leaving my shadow to

walk alone through the early October

sunset.

J.S. Lee