Editor's note: The above video on the different types of Alzheimer's is from March 2019.
Albuquerque, N.M. (CBS) -- Researchers at University of New Mexico researchers are working on a vaccine they hope could prevent Alzheimer's disease, reports CBS Albuquerque affiliate KRQE-TV.
UNM's Health and Sciences Department Associate Professor Kiran Bhaskar, who's been passionate about studying the disease for the last decade, says the work started with an idea in 2013.
Bhaskar and his team started to test the vaccine on mice. It has not yet been shown if it works in people.
"We used a group of mice that have Alzheimer's disease, and we injected them over a series of injections," said PhD student Nicole Maphis. She said the vaccine targets a specific protein known as tau that's commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
The mice were then given a series of maze-like tests. The mice that received the vaccine performed a lot better than those that hadn't.
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