Alexis Fiedler, a Ph.D. candidate at University of Rochester, has received IFER funding for her project, "Using iPSCs to model the combined effects of aging and genetics on the human blood-brain barrier." The blood-brain barrier (BBB) becomes less robust at regulating the passage of cells and molecules as people age, and age-related BBB changes—including amyloid beta accumulation—are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. The ApoE4 allele, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's, accelerates many of these aging-related changes. However, mice do not naturally develop Alzheimer's, making them poor models for studying age-related disease. Alexis is building the first "aged" human brain-on-chip model, combining iPSC technology with small molecule aging cocktails to create the µSiM-aBBB (microphysiological system enabled by a silicon membrane-aged BBB). This innovative platform allows researchers to study how aging and genetic risk factors interact to compromise brain barrier function, enabling drug development and testing without animals while offering a powerful tool for personalized medicine and safer therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.