Dr. Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui is a professor in the departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, andBiomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California. The Koronyo-Hamaoui team investigates the role of innate immune cells in CNS repair and regeneration withthe goal of developing immunomodulation-based treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inaddition, she explores the pathological changes in the retina specific to AD for the prospect ofearly screening and disease monitoring. She is a pioneer in identifying the pathologicalhallmarks of AD, Aβ plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, in the retina of patients with mildcognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Over a decade ago, her team developed a breakthroughapproach for live detection of retinal Aβ screening using noninvasive optical retinal imaging. Byapplying this technology, the team discovered that the amount of retinal amyloid plaques,especially in the mid-peripheral regions of the superior-temporal retina, was rising incognitively impaired and AD patients as compared to cognitively normal individuals; retinalplaques correlated with hippocampal atrophy. Currently, her lab explores additional aspects ofAD pathology in the retina, including neuroinflammation, tauopathy, vasculopathy and synapticloss, as well as establishes the relationship with disease in the brain and cognitive decline.