LDN on the cover: Cell Metabolism

On the cover: Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by brain accumulation of Aβ oligomers and memory impairment, has been recently coined “type 3 diabetes,” as insulin resistance was found to influence AD pathogenesis. On pp. 831–843 of this issue, Lourenco et al. show that a TNF-α/PKR/eIF2α-P pathway initiated by Aβ oligomers in mice and monkeys leads to synapse and memory loss, which can be blocked by boosting brain insulin signaling. The cover image depicts how memories are being wiped out by a proinflammatory eraser, while they are preserved when written in “insulin” ink. Artwork by Dr. Marcelo Vieira.

"When our paper was accepted for publication in Cell Metabolism, we were excited to suggest a cover that could draw attention to the topic of our study: memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. We then contacted Marcelo Vieira, a brilliant and very creative former PhD student from our group, for help. Marcelo remembered that we occasionally ended our scientific presentations with a poem written by our daughter, Bruna, when she was 11 years old. Inspired by our work on memory mechanisms, Bruna had written that ‘‘Memories are such strong and important feelings, you can’t forget them, you can’t make them different.’’ Marcelo immediately imagined that poem written on a notepad inside a human brain, and thought of illustrating how terrible it must feel to have one’s memories erased by such a devastating disease. Inscribed in the eraser are the main molecular components of the memory-damaging mechanism described in the article. In a simple yet touching way, the cover captured the essence of our story. Credit thus goes to our daughter Bruna, now a thoughtful 20-year-old girl, and to Marcelo, one of the most beautiful minds we have encountered." - Fernanda G. De Felice and Sergio T. Ferreira