"Overexpressing KIF11 in mice did not affect the amyloid levels in the brain," said the study's co-senior author Huntington Potter, Ph.D., professor of neurology and director of the University of Colorado Alzheimer's and Cognition Center and of Alzheimer's research at the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Yet they were still cognitively normal despite the plaques. This is one of the best indications that you can maintain cognition without getting rid of the plaques."