finally, villa-komaroff contributed to the discovery that a molecule known to be associated with alzheimer’s disease (amyloid beta) causes degeneration of brain cells (neurons), work done in conjunction with a postdoctoral fellow in her laboratory, bruce yankner. before this publication, it was unclear whether amyloid beta was a byproduct of neuronal degeneration or a contributor to that degeneration. this paper provided the first direct evidence that a fragment of the amyloid precursor protein could kill neurons, and helped stimulate a very large field dedicated to preventing and treating alzheimer’s disease by targeting amyloid beta.