The liberal arts advantage: Saint Michael’s College’s role in a major Alzheimer’s discovery

For most of her scientific career, Biology and Neuroscience Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine has studied spiders’ nervous systems – even overcoming arachnophobia as she was drawn in by the sensory systems she could observe from the creatures’ large neurons. 

After several years of teaching at Saint Michael’s, however, younger members of her Central American wandering spider colony began dying off in strange ways, she said. Fabian-Fine soon realized her spiders were showing symptoms of neurodegeneration, prompting her to investigate the cause. 

Now, several years later – and with the help of dozens of undergraduate student researchers and experts from the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine – Fabian-Fine’s initial curiosity about her spider colony has led to a groundbreaking discovery in Alzheimer’s disease research.  

From left, Biology Professor Adam Weaver, Abigail Roman ’25, Melanie Winters ’25, and Neuroscience Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine make up the Saint Michael’s College contingent of a team that, along with the University of Vermont, recently submitted a paper describing a new understanding of the mechanisms in the brain that lead to neurodegeneration. (Photo by April Barton/Saint Michael’s College)

A new peer-reviewed paper written by Fabian-Fine, fellow Saint Michael’s College Biology Professor Adam Weaver, UVM Larner College of Medicine Dr. John DeWitt, and two Saint Michael’s students proposes a new mechanism within the human brain that may lead to neurodegeneration, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.  

“Alois Alzheimer had first described Alzheimer’s Disease in 1906,” Fabian-Fine said. “It is one of the most investigated problems in biomedical research.” 

“Until now, we didn’t know what tau tangles and amyloid-beta plaques were,” she added, referencing features of the disease that had been identified early in Alzheimer’s research. “But we now have a pretty solid hypothesis of where they come from and what their function is.” 

The research has been supported by the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN), a statewide program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) that provides seed grants to Vermont researchers. 

“The Vermont Biomedical Network has been thrilled to support Dr. Fabian-Fine’s research from its initial focus on animal neuroscience to the more recent and potentially groundbreaking emphasis on the cellular basis of human neurodegeneration,” said UVM’s Dr. Christopher Francklyn, the Director of VBRN. “Her exciting work, and the outstanding training she has provided to her undergraduate co-investigators, epitomizes what NIH hopes to accomplish with its national IDeA program.”     

Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine with members of her Central American wandering spider colony used in ongoing research on neurodegeneration. (File)

Exploring neurodegeneration 

By initially studying spider brains and later the brain tissue of rodents and humans, Fabian-Fine, Weaver, and their students discovered a waste canal system that previous Alzheimer’s research had not described. It was in this system, they discovered, that the mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration were taking place.  

Larger – and fewer – neurons within spiders’ nervous systems allowed Fabian-Fine and co-researchers to quickly determine what triggered the neurodegeneration that eventually caused the death of the animals. This made Fabian-Fine wonder whether the canal system might be found in the brains of rodents and humans as well.   

That’s where Fabian-Fine’s connection to UVM’s Larner College of Medicine came in – she also holds adjunct associate professor status in the Department of Pharmacology and is a Pipeline Investigator for the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health. She tapped several of her colleagues there for help with the research, including Dr. DeWitt, a neuropathologist at Larner and the UVM Medical Center. DeWitt conducted autopsies on the human brains that were part of the research, made medical diagnoses, and contributed to the investigation of brain tissue.

An image from the report’s graphical abstract. The scientists demonstrate that both Alzheimer’s-affected neurons and glial cells are obstructed by amyloid beta-immunoreactive receptacles that likely internalize tau protein. This affects the cytoplasm of the cells, gradually leading to cell death. (Photo credit: The Journal of Comparative Neurology)

Thanks to the collaboration with UVM, Fabian-Fine was able to investigate human brain samples originating from fully consented human decedents and surplus rodent brain tissue. This allowed the researchers to confirm their suspicion that humans and rodents likely have canal systems similar to those found in spiders. 

“This was key,” Fabian-Fine said. “I cannot highlight enough how this collaboration really enabled us to do all of that.” 

The bulk of the researchers’ work was in observing and capturing images of the neurodegenerative processes, collecting enough evidence to back their findings and convince the wider scientific community that their discovery was significant. 

A Central American wandering spider, which formed the basis of a study on neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease. (File)

How Saint Michael’s students got involved 

Dozens of Saint Michael’s students over the past few years have contributed to getting the research to its current point. An initial paper published in 2023 that laid the groundwork for this most recent paper cited 26 current and former students as co-authors along with Fabian-Fine and Weaver – something that is rare in peer-reviewed publications. 

According to Weaver, Saint Michael’s science labs use the CURE method, which stands for Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience. Instead of conducting prefab experiments that have been done over and over again, students are using skills they’ve learned in class to investigate current scientific questions – which often helps further research already being done by professors.  

According to Abigail Roman ’25 and Melanie Winters ’25, the students who are co-authors on this most recent paper, the small class sizes at Saint Michael’s allow for closer working relationships with the professors. This ultimately helps students hone their own skills and act as mentors for younger students.   

Melanie Winters ’25, standing, presents to her co-authors on a recent publication related to Alzheimer’s disease. Abigail Roman ’25 (second from left), Neuroscience Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine, and Biology Professor Adam Weaver participate in the discussion. (Photo by April Barton/Saint Michael’s College)

Roman, a Biology major and Chemistry minor from Falmouth, Massachusetts, said she feels lucky to have had the experience of conducting research with her professors. She said that being able to discover new things together has been one of the more exciting and meaningful aspects of the experience.  

“Just to see how excited Ruth will get to when we discover certain things, it just makes it more exciting for us, too,” Roman said. “And it almost makes you feel a little special or accomplished if you took an image of something that was really cool, even if you don’t realize it at first.”  

Winters, a Neuroscience major and Chemistry minor from Montpelier, Vermont, transferred to Saint Michael’s as a sophomore from a larger university. She said that working closely with Fabian-Fine and Weaver on research has helped her better explore options for her future after Saint Michael’s.  

“Coming here, I found that the small school and the relationship that you can have with your professors is just so critical and beneficial,” Winters said. “You make it what you want it to be, but I think that everyone here, even students for the most part, are so open to conversation and just learning about you and what motivates you.”  

Melanie Winters ’25 points to a screen displaying a PowerPoint while presenting on findings related to neurodegeneration research she has been part of. (Photo by April Barton/Saint Michael’s College)

The CURE method that was supported by VBRN has helped make the neurodegeneration research process more efficient while also allowing students to gain skills and experience they might not otherwise get as an undergraduate.  

“They leave our program, not just our lab, but our program well-trained to hit the ground running in graduate school,” Weaver said. He added, “They have a level of confidence that they may not have come into the lab with, and that confidence is key for success.” 

Fabian-Fine added, “They are graduating as real scientists. I feel that.” 

Personal connections drive passion for scientific discovery

Alzheimer’s disease is among the leading causes of death in the U.S., with more than 50 million people affected worldwide. These days, it’s rare to find anyone without a connection to someone with either Alzheimer’s or another neurodegenerative disease like ALS or Parkinson’s disease.  

The excitement of discovery hasn’t been the only thing driving the research forward – all four of the research team members from Saint Michael’s have a personal connection to the research as well.  

Neuroscience Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine points to an image of brain tissue on the screen of a microscope while Biology Professor Adam Weaver looks on. (Photo by April Barton/Saint Michael’s College)

Fabian-Fine said watching a close friend die from ALS, another neurodegenerative disease, has driven her to continue pushing the research forward.  

“It really drove home the grim reality for me,” Fabian-Fine said. “You see people losing their lives slowly, and there’s nothing you can do.” 

For Roman and Winters, experiences with family members who have neurodegenerative and neurological disorders have driven their interest in the project. Weaver said he grew up in West Virginia, which has a high incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in general, and it’s unclear why that’s the case. 

“It’s become a really important issue to me to understand that better so that maybe we can lead to better quality of life for people, not just in my home state, but everywhere,” Weaver said.  

The potential magnitude of the group’s discovery – and the knowledge of just how many people are impacted by neurodegeneration – has further lit a fire in Fabian-Fine to keep pushing and make sure other scientists hear about the findings. She knows there will likely be pushback from the neuroscience community, but she believes the group’s findings will ultimately be accepted.  

“I can’t sleep anymore,” Fabian-Fine said. “I want to get this out as fast as possible because there may be treatment options. … There is an urgency because people don’t have time. Once your nervous system is degenerated, you cannot get it back. It is this grim reality of it that really drives me forward.”  

Neuroscience Professor Ruth Fabian-Fine looks at an image of brain tissue on the screen of a microscope. (Photo by April Barton/Saint Michael’s College)

What’s next?  

As the group celebrates the success of the current paper, they are continuing to work on the next one. They are hoping to submit a draft of the next paper for feedback in the coming weeks. 

Fabian-Fine and Weaver said the next stage of the work is to begin identifying biochemical pathways to neurodegeneration and how they are formed so they can determine the best ways they can be addressed. They are hoping this leads to treatment options for addressing early signs of neurodegeneration – and keeping Alzheimer’s disease from developing.  

In the meantime, they hope that word of the current discovery continues to spread within the neuroscience community so other scientists can help push the research forward. 

“The mere fact is that we have not been able to identify the underlying causes for neurodegeneration, in spite of this being one of the most addressed topics in the biomedical sciences today suggests that current hypothesis might not be correct,” Fabian-Fine said. “Putting the glial canal system that we have discovered in place would explain tau tangles, amyloid beta plaques, and spongiform abnormalities in the brain, as we have demonstrated in our paper. We now have the functional studies, which further confirm our findings and will be submitted shortly.”  

She added, “Our goal is to help the neuroscience community recognize this and at least consider it because I’m convinced that once you’ve seen it, you cannot unsee it.”  

To read the report in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, click here.>> 

View a television segment by WCAX-TV featuring Dr. Ruth Fabian-Fine here.>>