Amyloid beta and tau are two toxic molecular substances that accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, creating plaques and tangles and destroying nerve cells. Pew Latin American fellow Guillermo Eastman – who is conducting research at the University of Virginia under the mentorship of George S. Bloom – is investigating how these substances alter the production of different proteins in brain cells and examining how these changes affect neurons’ survival, structure, and function.