 Alzheimer's is one of the biggest threats facing humans today. In fact, Alzheimer's is believed to be the third leading cause of death in the United States. Unestimated by the National Institute of Health, states that more than 5 million Americans may have Alzheimer's. So what can we do about this problem? In 1906, a woman named Auguste, who suffered memory loss, died. Following this, a German physician named Alois Alzheimer's examined her brain in an autopsy, and what he found was astonishing. Auguste's brain cells appear to be drastically shrunk. And so, this peculiar condition in which the brain cells were dramatically shrunk was dubbed Alzheimer's disease. So how exactly does Alzheimer's disease work? Alzheimer's occurs when bundles of protein fragments called plaques build up between neurons in the brain, in addition to the nerve fibers becoming twisted up which we call tangles. These changes in the brain are gradual and occur over decades, which explains why we tend to see the symptoms show up in elderly people, such as memory loss, changes in an individual's personality, and even changes in one's behavior. So why exactly is Alzheimer's such a deadly disease? Well, the deterioration of neurons begins in the areas of your brain which control your memory and cognitive abilities such as thinking, and over time begins to spread to areas of your brain controlling vital functions such as respiration, pulse rate, and swallowing. Once the deterioration has reached this area of the brain, it can cause serious problems, such as heart failure, which can result in death. And so, many scientists and medical experts around the globe are racing to try and find a cure, one of which comes from an unlikely source. Our potential cure for Alzheimer's comes from a virus named M13. M13 is a bacteria phage that affects the E. coli bacteria and is harmless to humans. However, researchers who conducted a study on rats genetically engineered to have Alzheimer's found that the virus also had the ability to dissolve plaques and tangles. In fact, after a year of treatment, the rats saw up to an 80% reduction in plaques and tangles. So how does M13 do its job? The answer lies on a specific glycoprotein found on the virus called GP3, which allows the M13 virus to latch onto plaque build-ups in the brain and dissolve it. So what exactly is so beneficial about using a viral-based treatment as opposed to other forms of treatment? Well, the biggest perk of using the M13 virus is the success of getting the treatment across the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is a membrane which separates the brain from the circulatory system. Being semi-permeable, only certain substances can cross it, ensuring that the brain is protected from harmful chemicals while keeping a stable environment in the brain. As beneficial as this mechanism is, it can also prove to be an obstacle as the blood-brain barrier can sometimes prevent the brain from receiving vital medication. However, it is possible for some viruses to breach this barrier by cleaving the tight junctions between the membranes open, allowing the virus to enter, or through the Trojan horse plan in which the virus infects an immune cell, turning it rogue and making it a vector for the virus, and then sending the immune cell with the virus in it across the barrier where it can wreak havoc. However, the M13 virus takes a less violent approach, making its way through the membrane by using a molecule. As promising as the M13 virus sounds, it comes with a major drawback, production. Manufacturing a virus on a large scale would be extremely difficult, so scientists have found another way. After some difficulty, a pharmaceutical company called Neurophage engineered a new fusion protein compound called NPT088, which had a similar structure to the GP3 glycoprotein, allowing the virus to attach to and to solve plaques and tangles. Although NPT088's larger molecular size does prove to be a difficulty when working with the compound, the compound stays in the brain for several weeks and gradually makes it across the blood brain barrier, until a substantial amount of the substance gets in the brain and helps dissolve the plaques and tangles. As far as trials are concerned, in non-human primates and mice, the medicine has been shown to be effective. Human trials, however, as far as anyone's knowledge, are still underway and have yet to be completed. However, thanks to the new unlikely hero that is the M13 virus, humans are now filled with the hope of seeing one of the biggest threats facing them eradicated. I'm really happy to announce that I will begin to make more biology videos from now on, especially in areas dealing with neuroscience. However, I'm open to suggestion from you the viewers, and as always, stay tuned for more science.