Leaders in Research
You may view the list of scholars arranged
| Dena Bou Dubal, MD, PhD Staff Scientist Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Dena Dubal’s Beeson research is aimed at identifying and developing strategies to protect the brain against AD. Specifically, she is examining novel functions of collagen VI, a protein that lives outside the cell, in protection against the toxic effects of A? in the brain. She is investigating whether collagen VI binds Aβ and decreases its toxicity outside of the cell. She is also examining whether collagen VI acts inside the brain cell to fight Aβ and increase survival. Finally, she is determining whether the protective protein prevents Aβ-induced cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Collectively, the results of these studies may reveal key protective mechanisms that could serve as direct targets for the development of treatments for AD and other diseases of aging. Dr. Dubal is a physician-scientist focused on identifying strategies to protect against neurodegenerative conditions of aging, such as AD. She received her MD and PhD (in physiology/neuroscience) from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Sanders Brown Center on Aging. She completed clinical training in neurology, subspecialty training in dementias, and a postdoctoral fellowship in neurodegenerative disease at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. | |
| Primary Research (for Beeson Program): Collagen VI: Novel Mechanisms and Functions in Alzheimer's Disease
|
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common disease of memory in the elderly, devastates the minds of millions of people every year. Research over the past decade has revealed that amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides, potent toxins, play a central role in the development of AD. However, despite our growing knowledge of how AD devastates the brain, there are no effective treatments to prevent or modify the course of the disease.