In this episode, we spotlight Plenary Lectures 01 and 02 from the AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference, held on March 17, 2026. The lectures were chaired by Sandra O. Moose (USA) and Prof. Gabriel Gold (Switzerland).

Plenary Lecture 01, ”Understanding Neurodegenerative Diseases Today: Lessons from Clinicopathological Correlations and the Ongoing Role of Neuropathology in the Biomarker Age,” was presented by Prof. Lea Grinberg (USA). Plenary Lecture 02, the Eric N. Birch Lecture, ”Key Sleep Issues Pertinent to the Development and Progression of Neurodegeneration in Lewy Body Disease and Related Disorders,” was presented by Prof. Bradley Boeve (USA).

Key highlights from this session include:

• Why biomarker positivity alone can oversimplify disease biology — illustrated by patients with positive Alzheimer's biomarkers but very different syndromes and autopsy findings

• How the predictive value of a positive biomarker depends heavily on age and pretest probability, a growing concern as blood-based tests reach beyond specialty clinics

• Copathology as the rule rather than the exception in Alzheimer's, helping explain why symptoms, trajectories and treatment responses vary so widely

• Neuropathology as an active field still defining new targets — from LATE, ARTAG and caspase-6-truncated tau to TMEM106B and annexin A11 pathologies

• Evidence that neuromodulatory subcortical nuclei, including the locus coeruleus and orexinergic neurons, may be affected before the entorhinal cortex, reframing early neuropsychiatric symptoms as manifestations of the earliest biology

• REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) as a prodromal synucleinopathy, present in roughly 80–85% of dementia with Lewy bodies and often preceding other features by years or decades

• Data showing about 80% of individuals with isolated RBD phenoconvert to Parkinson's disease, DLB or MSA within 14 years, though timing and phenotype remain unpredictable

• The state-dissociation framework linking DLB with narcolepsy, and the orexin system as a key stabilizer of the sleep-wake switch and a potential therapeutic target

• Isolated RBD as one of the best windows for disease-modifying intervention, supported by longitudinal platforms such as NAPS, PPMI and the International RBD Study Group

Together, these lectures established two complementary messages for clinicians and researchers: neuropathology remains essential for correct biological interpretation in the biomarker era, and sleep and subcortical systems may offer some of the earliest, most actionable signals of neurodegeneration in both Alzheimer's and Lewy body disease.

This episode is particularly relevant for neurologists, neuroscientists, neuropathologists, sleep medicine specialists, translational scientists, clinical trialists, biomarker researchers, and biotech and pharma professionals working across Alzheimer's disease and synucleinopathies.

This podcast was created using AI to provide a concise and insightful summary of an AD/PD™ 2026 session. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, listeners are encouraged to consult official conference materials for detailed information.

The AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and related neurological disorders took place March 17–21, 2026, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

🔗 https://adpd.kenes.com