Joachim Herz is a Professor of Molecular Genetics, Neuroscience, Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and the Director of the Center for Translational Neurodegeneration Research at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center. He graduated from Medical School in Heidelberg, Germany in 1983. After residencies in Germany and the U.K. he joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) as a postdoctoral fellow, where he began his work on LDL receptor-related proteins and their diverse biological functions in development, the vasculature and the peripheral and central nervous system. His current research focuses on the role of LDL receptor-related proteins as ApoE receptors and modulators of synaptic neurotransmission in the pathogenesis of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and as immunomodulators at the vascular/neurovascular interface. He also investigates the cell biological basis of a form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration that is caused by haploinsufficiency in progranulin and explores therapeutic approaches to correct this genetic deficiency.