By Robert Perkins
Four scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), selected for the honor by their academic peers.
AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science, began the tradition of selecting fellows in 1874. The nonprofit organization has been around since 1848. … Read More »
Zlokovic named holder of newly endowed chair; brings total Zilkha giving to $30M
By Alison Trinidad
Los Angeles residents Selim Zilkha and Mary Hayley are raising the stakes in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, the only cause of death among the top 10 in the United States that cannot currently be prevented, cured or slowed.
Zilkha, a member of the Keck School of Medicine of USC Board of Overseers, has pledged a gift of $5 million to the school to fund a new endowed chair in Alzheimer’s disease research. This latest gift brings Zilkha’s total giving to neuroscience research at the Keck School to more than $30 million. … Read More »
By Christine Chan and Amy E. Hamaker
Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and more than five million Americans live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Conquering Alzheimer’s was the focus of the first Zilkha Mini Symposium on Alzheimer’s Research at USC.
The symposium, held on Aug. 26 in honor of a visit by the Alzheimer’s Association’s Maria Carrillo, PhD, and Susan Galeas, MSW, MPH, covered a variety of topics, including brain imaging and mapping, genomics, the blood-brain barrier, new therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease and an overview of clinical research at USC. … Read More »
By Alison Trinidad
An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.
The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. … Read More »
By Alison Trinidad
An experimental drug called 3K3A-APC appears to reduce brain damage, eliminate brain hemorrhaging and improve motor skills in older stroke-afflicted mice and stroke-afflicted rats with comorbid conditions such as hypertension, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC.
The study, which appears online in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the United States in 2014. … Read More »
William J. Mack, MD, was named to the board of directors of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) at the group’s Annual Meeting. In this position, Mack, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, will play a leading role with the society in continuing initiatives to resource, train and support veteran and new practitioners to bring advanced treatment approaches to neurovascular conditions. … Read More »
The second annual Roxanna Todd Hodges Visiting Lectureship in Stroke Prevention and Education was awarded to Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Bushnell is director of the Wake Forest Baptist Stroke Center and a thought leader in issues regarding women’s health and stroke, and performing community interventions for reducing stroke risk.
Bushnell’s lecture, “21st Century Stroke Prevention: What will it look like?” was presented at Neurology Grand Rounds held the morning of Aug. 6 at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, part of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
By Amy E. Hamaker
Amyloid fibers, abnormal protein aggregates, have been associated with more than 20 serious human diseases, including neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
However, Ansgar Siemer, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute within the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is working on some amyloid fibers that can actually be necessary for long-term memory in fruit flies and other organisms.
Siemer will have the chance to research how this is possible thanks to a recent three-year award from the Whitehall Foundation. … Read More »
A USC team of scientists has published research that highlights a new potential therapeutic agent for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers from the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have found that a mutant protein helps to bind amyloid beta peptide in the brain more efficiently than a wild type — or naturally occurring — version. Amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is a primary component of amyloid plaques — deposits found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — and most researchers believe it plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s. … Read More »
A USC team of scientists has published research that highlights a new potential therapeutic agent for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers from the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have found that a mutant protein helps to bind amyloid beta peptide in the brain more efficiently than a wild type — or naturally occurring — version. Amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is a primary component of amyloid plaques — deposits found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — and most researchers believe it plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s. … Read More »