Archives

Scientific Representative of Sanofi.

Dr. Thomas Rooney is Head of Translational Research for Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Aging Therapeutic Strategic Unit at Sanofi.  Dr. Rooney received his BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Glasgow, UK (1984) and his PhD in Neuropharmacology from the University of Leicester, UK (1987). He then moved to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, USA (1988-1998) where he was a postdoctoral fellow and then Assistant and Associate Professor in the Dept of Pathology and Cell Biology where he directed research focused on studying the organization of Ca2+ signalling at the subcellular level and the mechanisms by which growth factors and glutamate receptors regulate neuronal survival in the developing and adult brain. Since 1998, Dr Rooney has worked at Sanofi in Paris, France where he has headed research groups and drug development programmes focused on the treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.  He also participates to several public-private collaborations and consortiums to accelerate R&D for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease and contributed to the JPND industry consultations during the preparation of the JPND Strategic Research Agenda.

Main publications:

1. Rooney, T., Sass, E., and Thomas, A.P. (1990). Agonist-induced cytosolic calcium oscillations originate from a specific locus in single hepatocytes. J. Biol. Chem. 265, 10792-10796.
2. Zhang, F.X., Rubin, R., and Rooney, T. (1998). N-methyl-D-aspartate inhibits apoptosis through activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in cerebellar granule neurons: A role for insulin receptor substrate-1 in the neurotrophic action of N-methyl-D-aspartate and its inhibition by ethanol. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 26596-26602
3. Itier, J.M., Ibanez, P., Mena, M.A., Abbas, N., Cohen-Salmon, C., Bohme, G.A., Laville, M., Pratt, J., Corti, O., Pradier, L., Ret, G., Joubert, C., Periquet, M., Araujo, F., Negroni, J., Casarejos, M.J., Canals, S., Solano, R., Serrano, A., Gallego, E., Sanchez, M., Denefle, P., Benavides, J., Tremp, G., Rooney, T, Brice, A., and Garcia de Yebenes, J.  (2003). Parkin gene inactivation alters behaviour and dopamine neurotransmission in the mouse. Hum. Mol. Genet. 12, 2277-2291.
4. Petiet, A., Santin, M., Bertrand, A., Wiggins, C.J., Petit, F., Houitte, D., Hantraye, P., Benavides, J., Debeir, T., Rooney, T., Dhenain, M. (2012). Gadolinium-staining reveals amyloid plaques in the brain of Alzheimer’s transgenic mice. Neurobiol Aging. 33, 1533-1544.
5. Santin, M., Debeir, T., Bridal, S.L., Rooney, T., Dhenain, M. (2013). Fast in vivo imaging of amyloid plaques using mu-MRI Gd-staining combined with ultrasound-induced blood brain barrier opening.  NeuroImage 79, 288–294.

Scientific Representative of Alzheimer Research UK.

Dr Eric Karran is a molecular biochemist by training, with a particular interest in enzymology and proteinases.  He has spent most of his career in the pharmaceutical industry, leading and managing multi-disciplinary drug discovery teams.   He has held Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President roles in a number of companies, including SmithKline Beecham (now GSK), Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Johnson and Johnson.  During his career he has led and participated in a number of academic/industry collaborations.  Eric has specialized in Neuroscience research, and particularly Alzheimer’s disease, for the past 20 years, participating in a number of projects that have led to late-stage clinical programmes.   Eric is a Visiting Professor in the Department for Human Genetics at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and an Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Department of Molecular Neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology, University College London.   He is currently the Director of Research for Alzheimer’s Research UK and has responsibility for setting the organization’s strategic scientific direction.

Main publications:

1. Samer Matta, Kristof Van Kolen, Geert van den Bogaart, Raquel da Cunha, Wim Mandemakers, Katarzyna Miskiewicz, Pieter-Jan De Bock, Vanessa A. Morais, Sven Vilain, Dominik Haddad, Jef Swerts, Lucia Chavez, Giovanni Esposito, Guy Daneels, Eric Karran, Matthew Holt, Kris Gevaert, Dieder Moechars, Bart De Strooper and Patrik Verstreken. LRRK2 controls an EndoA phosphorylation cycle in synaptic endocytosis. Neuron,;75:1008-1021 (2012).
2. Lucía Chávez-Gutiérrez, Leen Bammens, Iryna Benilova, Annelies Vandersteen, Manasi Benurwar, Marianne Borgers, Sam Lismont, Lujia Zhou, Simon Van Cleynenbreugel, Hermann Esselmann, Jens Wiltfang, Lutgarde Serneels, Eric Karran, Harrie Gijsen, Joost Schymkowitz, Frederic Rousseau, Kerensa Broersen, Bart De Strooper. The mechanism of gamma-Secretase dysfunction in familial Alzheimer disease. EMBO J., 31: 2261-2274: (2012)
3. Iryna Benilova, Eric Karran, Bart De Strooper. The toxic ABeta oligomer and Alzheimer’s disease: an emperor in need of clothes. Nature Neuroscience, 15: 349-357 (2012).
4. Eric Karran, Marc Mercken and Bart De Strooper. The amyloid cascade
   hypothesis for Alzheimer’s disease: an appraisal for the development of
   therapeutics. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 10: 698-712 (2011).
5. L. Serneels, J. Van Biervliet, K. Craessaerts,  T. Dejaegere,  K. Horre, T. Van Houtvin,  H.Esselmann,  S. Paul, MK. Schafer,  O. Berezovska,  BT. Hyman B. Sprangers,  R.Sciot,  L. Moons, M. Jucker, Z. Yang,  PC. May, E. Karran J. Wiltfang,  R. D’Hooge,  B. De Strooper.  Gamma-secretase heterogeneity in the Aph1 subunit: relevance for Alzheimer’s disease. Science, 324: 639-642, (2009).

Scientific Representative of Alzheimer Europe.

Charles Scerri received his PhD degree in 2004 from the University of Dundee in Scotland where he studied the involvement of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in Alzheimer’s disease. He is currently a senior academic and group leader of the Alzheimer’s disease research group at the Department of Pathology, University of Malta. His major research interests include neuropharmacology in Alzheimer’s disease, societal impact of dementia, dementia policy and healthcare workforce development. He is the co-founder and general secretary of the Malta Dementia Society, honorary secretary of Alzheimer Europe and member of the Mediterranean Alzheimer Alliance. He is also a member of the EU Joint Progamme for Neurodegenerative Diseases Scientific Advisory Board and Early Detection and Timely Intervention in Dementia Group (INTERDEM). In 2009, he was appointed to Chair the Malta Dementia Strategy Group with the aim of devising a series of recommendations that would provide a strategic framework in order to deliver quality improvements in the management and care of dementia in the Maltese islands. In July of 2013, he was appointed as the National Focal Point on Dementia to advise the Maltese government on measurements that need to be adopted to make dementia a national healthcare priority. He has served on numerous organisational committees for international conferences on dementia and invited to deliver various lectures abroad.

Scientific Publications

1. Scerri C, Stewart CA, Breen K, Balfour, DJK. The effects of chronic nicotine on spatial learning and bromodeoxyuridine incorportation into the dentate gyrus of the rat. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2006;184:540-546.
2. Gauci AJ, Caruana M, Giese A, Scerri C, Vassallo N. Identification of polyphenolic compounds and black tea extract as potent inhibitors of lipid membrane destabilization by Abeta42 aggregates. J Alzheimers Dis 2011;27:767-779.
3. Innes A, Abela S, Scerri C. The organisation of dementia care by families in Malta: The experiences of family caregivers. Dementia 2011;10:165-184.
4. Scerri C (2012). Challenges of developing a dementia strategy: The case of Malta. In Anthea Innes, Fiona Kelly and Louise McCabe (Editors) Key issues in evolving dementia care: International theory-based policy and practice. London;Jessica Kingsley:150-172.
5. Caruana M, Neuner J, Hogen T, Schmidt F, Kamp F, Scerri C, Giese A, Vassallo N. Polyphenolic compounds are novel neuroprotective agents against lipid membrane damage by alpha-synuclein in vitro. Biochim Biophys Acta 2012;1818:2502-2510.
6. Scerri C, Stewart C, Balfour DJK, Breen K. Nicotine modifies in vivo and in vitro rat hippocampal amyloid precursor protein processing in young but not old rats. Neurosci Lett 2012;514:22-26.
7. Vassallo N, Scerri C. Mediterranean diet and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Curr Aging Sci. 2013;6:150-62.
8. Caruana-Pulpan O, Scerri C. Practices in diagnosis, disclosure and pharmacotherapeutic management of dementia by general practitioners – a national survey. Aging Ment Health 2013;July 22:Epub ahead of print.

Scientific Representative of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Brian K. Fiske, PhD, is Vice President of Research Programs at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In this role, he manages a team of research professionals who stay closely linked to the Parkinson’s research community in order to develop an aggressive and innovative agenda for accelerating research and drug development for Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Fiske earned a Bachelor of Science degree in cellular and molecular biology from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Virginia. After completing postdoctoral research at Columbia University in New York, Brian spent several years as a science editor at the journal Nature Neuroscience. He joined the scientific staff of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2004.

Main publications:

1. Ross, O. A., et al. “Association of LRRK2 exonic variants with susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study.” Lancet Neurol. (2011).
2. Dorsey, E. R., et al. “Funding of Parkinson research from industry and US federal and foundation sources.” Mov Disord. 24.5 (2009): 731-37.
3. Fiske, B. K., M. A. Frasier, and T. B. Sherer. “Special focus section: gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease.” Exp.Neurol. 209.1 (2008): 28-29.
4. Elbaz, A., et al. “Lack of replication of thirteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms implicated in Parkinson’s disease: a large-scale international study.” Lancet Neurol. 5.11 (2006): 917-23.
5. Sherer, T. B., et al. “Crossroads in GDNF therapy for Parkinson’s disease.” Mov Disord. 21.2 (2006): 136-41.

Professor Myrra Vernooij-Dassen has been involved for many years in psychosocial dementia research. She has been trained as medical sociologist and was director of the Radboud Alzheimer Centre. She is affiliated to the Scientific Institute of Quality of Healthcare of Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She has performed a large body of research on quality of care and quality of life, especially in dementia and palliative care. She is currently engaged in translational and interdisciplinary dementia research. She supervised 32 PhDs. She published more than 250 (inter)national peer reviewed articles. She is chair of Interdem, a pan-European research network on detection and timely INTERvention in DEMentia.

Professor Vernooij-Dassen is visiting professor at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and honorary visiting professor of the School of Health of Bradford University.  Myrra Vernooij received the Dutch royal honor to be promoted to officer in the order of Orange-Nassau. She received the IPA 2016 distinguished service to the field psychogeriatrics award.

Myrra Vernooij-Dassen reviewed several national dementia programmes in Europe. She is a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of Alzheimer Europe and of the Advisory Board of Alzheimer Netherlands.

Scientific Publications

5 selected publications

• Spijker A, Wollersheim H, Teerenstra S, Graff M, Adang E, Verheij F,  Vernooij-Dassen M. Systematic care for caregivers of patients with dementia: a multicenter, cluster-randomized, controlled trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 56(6) 1116-28.
• Vernooij-Dassen M, Leatherman S, Olde Rikkert M. Quality of care in frail older persons: the fragile balance of receiving and giving. BMJ 2011 ;342:d403. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d403.
• Leontjevas R, Gerritsen DL,Smalbrugge M, Teerenstra S, Vernooij-Dassen MJ, Koopmans RT. A structural multidisciplinary approach to depression management in nursing-home residents: a multicentre stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial. Lancet 2013; 381:2255-64.
• Vernooij-Dassen M, Moniz-Cook E. Raising the standard of applied dementia care research: addressing the implementation error. Aging Ment Health. 2014 May 12:1-6.
• Vernooij-Dassen M, Jeon YH. Social health and dementia: the power of human capabilities. Int Psychogeriatr. 2016 May;28(5):701-3.

Stefano F. Cappa received his M.D. at the University of Milano, in which he completed his neurology training. He has held assistant professor and associate professor positions in Neurology and Neurological Rehabilitation at the University of Brescia. Since 1999 he is Professor of Neuropsychology at the Vita Salute S. Raffaele University in Milano, Italy and, from Nov 2000 to Nov 2009, Dean of Psychology. He is also Director of the Neurology Department of S. Raffaele Turro Hospital, Milano, Italy. He has spent research periods at Boston University, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at University of California San Diego, at the Medical Research Council Cyclotron Unit of Hammersmith Hospital in London and at the Max Planck Institut for Cognitive Neuroscience in Leipzig.

His main research interests are:

• the investigations in linguistic aspects of aphasia, with a special emphasis on the neurological correlates of specific aspects of language impairment;
• Alzheimer’s disease and dementia;
• diagnosis, unusual neuropsychological features, and cognitive studies of memory disorders in dementia;
• the application of functional imaging methods (positron emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance) to the study of cognitive function (in particular, language and semantic memory);
• cognitive studies of disorders of space cognition and exploration, their neurological correlates and the variables affecting recovery.

Scientific publications

He has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals, as well as several books and book chapters, and has served in many Editorial Boards.

1. Garibotto V, Borroni B, Kalbe E, Herholz K, Salmon E, Holtoff V, Sorbi S, Cappa SF, Padovani A, Fazio F, Perani D. Education and occupation as proxies for reserve in aMCI converters and AD: FDG-PET evidence. Neurology. 2008 Oct 21;71(17):1342-9.
2. Gorno-Tempini ML, Brambati SM, Ginex V, Ogar J, Dronkers NF, Marcone A Perani D, Garibotto V, Cappa SF, Miller BL. The logopenic/phonological variant of primary progressive aphasia. Neurology. 2008 Oct 14;71(16):1227-34.
3. Nicola Canessa, Francesca Borgo, Stefano F. Cappa, Daniela Perani, Andrea Falini, Giovanni Buccino, Marco Tettamanti and Tim Shallice The different neural correlates of action and functional knowledge in semantic memory: an fMRI study, Cerebral Cortex 2007 Jul 9.
4. Cotelli, M., anenti R., Cappa SF, Geroldi C, Zanetti Rossini PM, Miniassi C Transcranial magnetic stimulation improves action naming in Alzheimer’s patients. Archives of Neurology 63. 1602-1604
5. Rosa Manenti, Claudia Repetto, Simone Bentrovato, Elizabeth Bates and Stefano Cappa The effects of aging and Alzheimer’s Disease on semantic and gender priming Brain 127, 2299-2306

Bruno Dubois is currently Professor of Neurology at the Neurological Institute of the Salpétrière University Hospital at Paris, University Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6. He is Director of the Behavioural Neurology Department and of the Dementia Research Center at the Hospital. He is also Director of the Research Unit Inserm U-610 of the ICM (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière) of the Hospital. He is coordinator of the National Reference Center on “Rare Dementias” and of the National Reference Center for “young-onset Alzheimer patients”. He is President of the Scientific Committee of France-Alzheimer and of IFRAD (International Fund Raising for Alzheimer’s disease), consultant for the Human Frontier Program and Expert of the French Agency of Drugs. He is a member of the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC). He has published on anatomical and biochemical studies on the central cholinergic systems in rodents and humans; on cognitive neuropharmacology; and on neuropsychology in patients with dementia, with special reference to memory and executive functions. He recently organized an Expert Consensus on the new criteria for Alzheimer’s disease and a Task Force on the new criteria for Parkinson’s disease dementia. He is principal or co-investigator of a number of research programs focusing on AD, prodromal AD and dementia in Parkinson’s disease.

Scientific publications

1. Thiebaut de Schotten M, Urbanski M, Duffau H., Volle E, Levy R, Dubois B, Bartolomeo P. Direct evidence for a parietal-frontal pathway subserving spatial awareness in humans. Science. 2005 Sep 30; 309(5744):2226-8.
2. Pochon JB, Levy R, Fossati P, Lehericy S, Poline JB, Pillon B, Lebihan D, Dubois B. The neural system that bridges reward and cognition in humans: An fMRI study. PNAS, 2002, 99:5669-5674.
3. Dubois B, Albert ML. Amnestic MCI or prodromal Alzheimer’s disease? Lancet Neurol. 2004 Apr;3(4):246-8
4. Le Ber I, Guedj E, Gabelle A, Verpillat P, Volteau M, Thomas-Anterion C, Decousus M, Hannequin D, Vera P, Lacomblez L, Camuzat A, Didic M, Puel M, Lotterie JA, Golfier V, Bernard AM, Vercelletto M, Magne C, Sellal F, Namer I, Michel BF, Pasquier J, Salachas F, Bochet J, French Research network on FTD/FTD-MND, Brice A, Habert MO, Dubois B. Demographic, neurological and behavioural characteristics and brain perfusion SPECT in frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia. Brain, 2006 Nov; 129(Pt 11): 3051-65
5. Dubois B, Feldman H, Jacova C, DeKosky ST, Barberger-Gateau P, Cummings J, Delacourte A, Galasko D, Gauthier S, Jicha G, Meguro K, O’Brien J, Pasquier F, Robert P, Rossor M, Salloway S, Stern Y, Visser PJ., Scheltens P. Research criteria for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: revising of the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. Lancet Neurol. 2007 Aug; 6(8):734-46.

SAB Chairperson.

Thomas Gasser is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Center of Neurology at the University of Tübingen and Speaker of the German Center for Neurodegenerative diseases in Tübingen. Prof. Gasser studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and at Yale University Medical School, New Haven, Connecticut. He received his professional training in psychiatry at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, and in neurology at the Department of Neurology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. From 1991 to 1993 he trained as a post-doctoral fellow with a stipend of the German Research Foundation at the Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, in the laboratory of Prof. Xandra Breakefield. He returned to Munich to become Assistant Professor in neurology and Head of the Neurogenetics Unit as well as the Movement Disorders Outpatient Unit at the Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University. Prof. Gasser’s main areas of research are the genetic and molecular basis of Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and other movement disorders, as well as their diagnosis and treatment. His work is primarily focused on the identification of genes and loci that are involved in the development of Parkinson’s disease, and the analysis of the functional consequences of variations in the identified genes. These studies serve to identify drug targets and biomarkers for disease risk and progression. He conducted over 10 clinical trials according to GCP-criteria on the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and dystonia since 1995. In 1998, Prof. Gasser received the Parkinson’s disease Award by the German Society of Neurology. He is author and co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed papers and about 100 reviews and book contributions and was awarded several prestigious research grants. Currently, he is coordinator of the Parkinson-network in the National Genome Network plus, which comprises 16 individual projects. Prof. Gasser serves as President of the German Society of Neurogenetics and Chairman of the study group Neurogenetics of the German Society of Neurology. He is a past Editor of the Newsletter of the Movement Disorders Society and member of several editorial boards.

Honours and Awards

• 1985 Goedecke Research Award
• 1998 Parkinson-Award of the German Neurologic Society

Main publications

1. Zimprich A, Grabowski M, Asmus F, Naumann M, Berg D, Bertram M, Scheidtmann K, Kern P, Winkelmann J, Muller-Myhsok B, Riedel L, Bauer M, Muller T, Castro M, Meitinger T, Strom TM, Gasser T. Mutations in the gene encoding epsilon-sarcoglycan cause myoclonus-dystonia syndrome. NatGenet. 2001 9/2001;29(1):66-9.
2. Zimprich A, Biskup S, Leitner P, Lichtner P, Farrer M, Lincoln S, Kachergus J, Hulihan M, Uitti RJ, Calne DB, Stoessl AJ, Pfeiffer RF, Patenge N, Carbajal IC, Vieregge P, Asmus F, Muller-Myhsok B, Dickson DW, Meitinger T, Strom TM, Wszolek ZK, Gasser T. Mutations in LRRK2 Cause Autosomal-Dominant Parkinsonism with Pleomorphic Pathology. Neuron. 2004 Nov 18;44(4):601-7.
3. Mueller JC, Fuchs J, Hofer A, Zimprich A, Lichtner P, Illig T, Berg D, Wullner U, Meitinger T, Gasser T. Multiple regions of alpha-synuclein are associated with Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol. 2005 Mar 22;57(4):535-41.
4. Scholz SW, Houlden H, Schulte C, Sharma M, Li A, Berg D, Melchers A, Paudel R, Gibbs JR, Simon-Sanchez J, Paisan-Ruiz C, Bras J, Ding J, Chen H, Traynor BJ, Arepalli S, Zonozi RR, Revesz T, Holton J, Wood N, Lees A, Oertel W, Wullner U, Goldwurm S, Pellecchia MT, Illig T, Riess O, Fernandez HH, Rodriguez RL, Okun MS, Poewe W, Wenning GK, Hardy JA, Singleton AB, Gasser T. SNCA variants are associated with increased risk for multiple system atrophy. Ann Neurol. 2009 Mar 18;65(5):610-4.
5. Simon-Sanchez J, Schulte C, Bras JM, Sharma M, Gibbs JR, Berg D, Paisan-Ruiz C, Lichtner P, Scholz SW, Hernandez DG, Kruger R, Federoff M, Klein C, Goate A, Perlmutter J, Bonin M, Nalls MA, Illig T, Gieger C, Houlden H, Steffens M, Okun MS, Racette BA, Cookson MR, Foote KD, Fernandez HH, Traynor BJ, Schreiber S, Arepalli S, Zonozi R, Gwinn K, van der Brug M, Lopez G, Chanock SJ, Schatzkin A, Park Y, Hollenbeck A, Gao J, Huang X, Wood NW, Lorenz D, Deuschl G, Chen H, Riess O, Hardy JA, Singleton AB, Gasser T. Genome-wide association study reveals genetic risk underlying Parkinson’s disease. Nat Genet. 2009 Dec;41(12):1308-12.

Professor John Hardy is a geneticist and molecular biologist whose research interests focus on neurological disease. Dr. Hardy received his B.Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Leeds, UK (1976) and his Ph.D. from Imperial College, London, UK where he studied dopamine and amino acid neuropharmacology. Dr. Hardy received his postdoctoral training at the MRC Neuropathogenesis Unit in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and then further postdoctoral work at the Swedish Brain Bank in Umeå, Sweden where he started to work on Alzheimer’s disease.

He became Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College, London in 1985 and initiated genetic studies of Alzheimer’s disease whilst there. He was appointed Associate Professor in 1989 and then took the Pfeiffer Endowed Chair of Alzheimer’s Research at the University of South Florida, in Tampa in 1992. In 1996 he moved to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, as Consultant and Professor of Neuroscience. He became Chair of Neuroscience in 2000 and moved to NIA as Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics in 2001. He won the MetLife, the Allied Signal and the Potamkin Prize for his work in describing the first genetic mutations, in the amyloid gene in Alzheimer’s disease, in 1991. From 2001 to 2007, he was Head of the Neurogenetics Section, National Institute of Ageing, Bethesda, USA.

In 2007, he took up the Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at the UCL Institute of Neurology. With over 23,000 citations, Prof Hardy is the most cited Alzheimer’s disease researcher in the UK (5th internationally). In recognition of his exceptional contributions to science, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009.

Honours and Awards

• 1991 Peter Debje Prize, University of Limburg, Belgium, For Alzheimer’s Research
• 1992 IPSEN Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s Disease
• 1993 Potamkin Prize (American Academy of Neurology) for Alzheimer’s Research
• 1995 Allied Signal Prize for Research into Aging
• 1995 MetLife Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s disease
• 2002 Kaul Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s disease
• 2008 Anne Marie Oprecht International Prize for Research in Parkinson’s Disease
• 2008 Elected to membership of the Academy of Medical Sciences
• 2008 Honorary MD, University of Umea, Sweden
• 2009 Elected to the Royal Society

Scientific publications

1. Van Deerlin VM, Sleiman PMA, Martinez-Lage M, et al. Common variants at 7p21 are associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP43 inclusions Nature Genetics 2010; 42: 234-U34.
2. Harold D, Abraham R, Hollingworth P, et al. Genome-wide association study identifies variants at CLU and PICALM associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Nature Genetics 2009;41:088-U61.
3. Simon-Sanchez J, Schulte C, Bras JM; et al. Genome-wide association study reveals genetic risk underlying Parkinson’s disease. Nature Genetics 2009;41:1308-U68.
4. Hardy J, Singleton A. Genomewide Association Studies and Human Disease. New England Journal of Medicine 2009;360:1759-1768.
5. Nalls MA, Guerreiro RJ, Simon-Sanchez J, Bras JT, Traynor BJ, Gibbs JR, Launer L, Hardy J, Singleton AB. Extended tracts of homozygosity identify novel candidate genes associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Neurogenetics. 2009;10:183-90.
6. Zody MC, Jiang Z, Fung HC, et al. Evolutionary toggling of the MAPT 17q21.31 inversion region. Nature Genetics 2008;40:1076-1083.
7. Jakobsson M, Scholz SW, Scheet P, et al. Genotype, haplotype and copy-number variation in worldwide human populations Nature 2008;451:998-1003.
8. Matarin M, Simon-Sanchez J, Fung HC, et al. Structural genomic variation in ischemic stroke. Neurogenetics 2008;9:101-108.
9. Myers AJ, Gibbs R, Webster J, Rohrer K, Zhao A, Marlowe L, Kaleem M, Leung D, Bryden L, Nath P, Zismann VL, Joshipura K, Huentelman MJ, Hu- Lince D, Coon KD, Craig DW, Pearson JV, Holmans P, Heward CB, Reiman EM, Stephan D, Hardy J. A survey of genetic cortical gene expression. Nature Genetics 2007;39:1494-9.
10. Reiman EM, Webster JA, Myers AJ, Hardy J, Dunckley T, Zismann VL, Joshipura KD, Pearson JV, Hu-Lince D, Huentelman MJ, Craig DW, Coon KD, Liang WS, Herbert RH, Beach T, Rohrer KC, Zhao AS, Leung D, Bryden L, Marlowe L, Kaleem M, Mastroeni D, Grover A, Heward CB, Ravid R, Rogers J, Hutton ML, Melquist S, Petersen RC, Alexander GE, Caselli RJ, Kukull W, Papassotiropoulos A, Stephan DA. GAB2 alleles modify Alzheimer’s risk in APOE epsilon4 carriers. Neuron. 2007;54:713-20.