Physician Investigator (NonCl) Psychiatry, Mass General Research Institute

Courtesy Staff Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital

Courtesy Staff Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital

PhD University of Melbourne - Australia 1993

MD University of Melbourne - Australia 1982

alzheimer's disease; amyloid beta-peptides; blood protein chemistry; clioquinol; copper; metal regulatory systems; metalloproteins; metals; zinc I have been involved in metalloprotein research since completing a PhD with Colin Masters (1992) and post-doctoral studies with Rudy Tanzi at MGH (1992-4). The foundation of my laboratory's effort are the discoveries, made between 1992-1994, that the major proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, Aβ and the amyloid protein precursor (APP), are metalloproteins whose properties are influenced by interaction with metal ions. This approach has lead to successful studies of novel chemotherapeutic agents in treating Alzheimer lesions in animal models, showing promise in Phase 2 clinical trials. Based upon our research into the biochemistry of AD, my laboratory has characterized several novel metal regulatory systems that have generalized in importance outside of the neuroscience field. I am also involved in clinical studies of prognostic biomarkers for age-dependent degenerative disorder through my leadership role in the Australian Imaging Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) longitudinal study. I have had a strong interest in blood protein chemistry, and blood clinicopathology. My most recent work has characterized novel iron transport pathways for APP, a ubiquitously expressed protein, which is has activity analogous to ceruloplasmin and interacts with tau to mediate neuronal iron export.