‘Valley of Forgetting’ Review: In Pursuit of the Mystery of Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease continues to defy biomedical researchers who, despite making important progress, are still struggling to fully understand its complex causes, its genetic roots and the right targets for effective treatments.

In “Valley of Forgetting,” Jennie Erin Smith examines the most ambitious and far-reaching research project ever undertaken to understand and potentially prevent a genetically determined form of the disease: the study of a large, extended clan, living in the Antioquia region of Colombia, whose members have a rare genetic mutation that causes an early-onset form of Alzheimer’s—usually striking patients between the ages of 45 and 50, with symptoms sometimes starting even younger....

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal website.