Scientists in San Antonio are starting a study of aging baboons in the hope of spotting the very first biological signs of Alzheimer’s disease, long before memory problems appear. The team, from Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) and UT Health San Antonio, has $200,000 from the San Antonio Medical Foundation to study the brains of older baboons at Texas Biomed’s Southwest National Primate Research Center1. The money covers a pilot study, a small first test of the approach, over the next year1.
The project was reported on November 7, 2026, by the San Antonio Report and Texas Public Radio1. It has no results yet. This article covers what the team plans to measure, who is involved, and what such a study can and cannot tell us.
What the researchers plan to do
The starting point is a familiar problem. By the time most patients are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a cascade of changes has already happened in the brain1. Testing is usually done only once someone shows symptoms, even though the disease process begins much earlier1. The researchers want to understand what drives both Alzheimer’s and the more ordinary decline of the brain that comes with old age1.
To do that, they will take small samples of brain tissue from aging baboons, which the report describes as primates whose brains are quite similar to the human brain1. They will study the samples with spatial proteomics, a newer method that maps which proteins sit where inside a piece of tissue1.
The tissue samples will be paired with memory and thinking tests and with blood markers, the same kinds of measures used to diagnose Alzheimer’s in people1. The idea is to see how those outside measures line up with what is actually happening inside the baboons’ brains1.
The questions each researcher is chasing
Two proteins are the leading suspects in Alzheimer’s. Beta-amyloid builds up into clumps called plaques, often many years before symptoms begin. Tau changes shape inside nerve cells and forms tangles1. Both are hallmark signs of the disease, but the researchers say the picture is incomplete1.
“It’s unclear to what degree the amyloids are causative or an end product,” said Eric Vallender, associate director for research at Texas Biomed’s primate center. “There’s a lot of other stuff happening in the brain other than the amyloid plaques and tau aggregates. We want to understand what else is happening.”
Each team member brings a different focus:
- Eric Vallender wants to understand the blood-brain barrier, a lining of cells that controls what passes from the bloodstream into the brain. This lining can break down with age, which may contribute to inflammation and cell death1.
- Kimberley Phillips, a psychology professor at Trinity University and brain aging researcher who also works at Texas Biomed, is looking at glial cells, the brain’s support cells, and their role in brain decline1.
- Adam Salmon, associate director of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT San Antonio Health Science Center, studies the biology of aging. He wants to know how mitochondria, the parts of a cell that keep up its energy supply, are involved in aging and brain decline1.
“The ultimate goal is earlier detection,” Phillips said, “allowing then for earlier interventions that might either alter the course or at least delay the course of progression”1. Salmon put his hope this way: “If you could preserve those cells and preserve their function, you’re going to preserve cognitive function”1.
Who is behind it and who pays
The funding comes from the San Antonio Medical Foundation, which gave $200,000 in grant money1. The researchers say they will use it for the one-year pilot and then look for more funding for further research1. The sources do not name any company backing the work or any commercial product tied to it.
The animals are housed at Texas Biomed’s Southwest National Primate Research Center1. The center keeps several primate species. Texas Biomed’s own magazine has described its marmoset colony of more than 450 animals as the largest in North America2.
Salmon described the project as a chance to think about “how the models we use can help benefit actual clinical translation,” meaning how animal research can lead to something useful for patients1.
What it does not show yet
There are no findings to report. This is a small first study meant to test an approach and to support a bid for larger grants1. The reports do not say how many baboons will be studied or how old they are.
Results in baboons would not automatically apply to people. A separate paper published in July 2026 in the American Journal of Primatology, by researchers not named as part of this project, compared brain aging in chimpanzees and olive baboons3. It looked at the folds on the brain’s surface. Chimpanzees showed age-related changes in these folds that matched what is seen in humans3. Baboons did not: their pattern of change with age went against the authors’ predictions, and female baboons differed from males3. The authors suggested that differences in social life or reproductive aging might play a role, and called for more long-term studies3.
That paper measured brain shape, not Alzheimer’s proteins, so it does not say whether the San Antonio approach will work. But it is a reminder that baboon brains do not age in exactly the same way as human ones. The same paper also notes that non-human primates naturally develop the kinds of brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s, which is part of why there is renewed interest in studying them3.
How it fits the wider search for early signs
Alzheimer’s slowly erodes memory and thinking. Around 7.4 million Americans aged 65 and older live with it, and South Texas has some of the highest Alzheimer’s rates in the country, according to the report1. Scientists know a lot about what raises risk, from genetics to high blood pressure and head injuries, but cannot fully explain what is happening inside the brain to drive the disease1.
Two drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023 and 2024, Leqembi and Kisunla, slow the disease in its earlier stages by targeting amyloid plaque, but they cannot reverse it1. Because these drugs act early, finding ways to detect the disease at the molecular level before symptoms is a major priority for researchers1. Salmon said a marker based on mitochondria or on the protein maps “would be huge for the field because now you could intervene before those symptoms actually happen”1. That is a hope, not a result.
Other groups are also testing ways to track or change early Alzheimer’s markers, including a planned trial of strength training and Alzheimer’s markers that Biohack covered earlier.
Questions about animal research at the center
The primate center has faced criticism over how it cares for its animals. In August 2021, the animal rights group PETA asked the US Department of Agriculture to investigate after, it said, federal reports showed that the fingers, toes or tails of 159 baboons had to be amputated because the center failed to protect them during a February winter storm4. PETA said records showed an estimated 15% of the baboon colony suffered frostbite4.
PETA also said the USDA had fined Texas Biomed in earlier years for repeatedly allowing primates to escape, and that the facility held more than 2,700 primates in 20204. PETA opposes all experiments on animals and argues that most basic research involving animals does not lead to human treatments4. The sources provided do not include a response from Texas Biomed to these claims or say what the USDA concluded.
What to watch next
- Pilot results. The study runs over the next year1. The first sign of progress would be any report on whether the brain protein maps line up with the baboons’ memory tests and blood markers.
- More funding. The team plans to seek further grants after the pilot1. A larger award would show whether funders see the approach as promising.
- Specific targets. Watch for whether the work points to the blood-brain barrier, support cells or mitochondria as early players, the three areas the team has named1.
- The step to people. Any early marker found in baboons would still need to be tested in humans before it could help diagnose anyone.
For now, the news is a funded plan: a small team, a one-year pilot, and a set of questions about what happens in the brain before Alzheimer’s becomes visible.
