Hi! I'm PhD candidate and biomedical engineer at University of Seville. My research field is Parkinson's disease and neuroimaging biomarkers.

Professor Frank LaFerla is the Dean of Biological Sciences and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. Since his initial appointment in 2014, he has not only served as dean of the school, but also as the director of the NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). He is the Co-Director of NIH-funded MODEL-AD. His research focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common form of dementia. His scholarly work has had a global influence on the field, as some of the models he has generated have been distributed to over 150+ researchers in more than 20 countries throughout the world; he has published over 250 original peer-reviewed articles and has been listed among the top 1% cited researchers in his field. He has received several honors for his research accomplishments including the Ruth Salta Junior Investigator Achievement Award from the American Health Assistance Foundation, Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Research Award, Promising Work Award from the Metropolitan Life Foundation for Medical Research, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and was elected as a Fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Neurological Association.

Prof. Debomoy Lahiri, PhD (Deb) is a leading scientist in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Lahiri holds the title of "Distinguished Professor at Indiana University." He is a professor of Neurobiology in the Departments of Psychiatry and of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine, leader of the Research Education Core of Indiana AD Research Center, and member of the Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, Indianapolis, USA. His research focuses on the neurobiology of aging, the origin, and biogenesis of the neuritic plaques, and tests potential drug targets for AD. His group pioneered identifying drugs based on cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA antagonists and developing unique human primary brain cultures to study AD. Dr. Lahiri invented a novel genomic DNA method used worldwide for human genotyping and significantly contributed to epigenetics and microRNA fields. Briefly, Dr. Lahiri studied messenger (mRNA) biogenesis at the New York University School of Medicine. He learned about AD and the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) pathway at the NY State Institute for Basic Research and translational work at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Lahiri contributed to a pioneering pharmacogenomic study of the APOEε4 allele as a predictor of cholinesterase inhibitor outcomes in AD patients. Drs. Lahiri and Greig showed how selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibition lowered the toxic amyloid-β peptide. Such research led to the discovery of novel properties of several lead compounds under clinical trial for neurodegenerative diseases. His group discovered BACE1 promoter's regulation leading to Aβ peptide. To explain the etiology of sporadic neuropsychiatric disorders, Dr. Lahiri discovered a novel pathway, 'Latent Early-life Associated Regulation' (LEARn), that unites genes, environment, and early-life exposures. Also, Dr. Lahiri made seminal contributions to neurodevelopment disorders, such as autism spectrum. Dr. Lahiri received continuous NIH funding for over three decades. He is the Founding Editor-In-Chief of two international journals and has authored books published by the New York Academy of Sciences. He has received several prizes, awards, and US patents. Dr. Lahiri was humbled to receive the Zenith Fellow Award and be elected Fellow of the AAAS and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Lars Lannfelt, MD, PhD, Professor Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences/Geriatrics, Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden Co-founder of BioArctic Lars Lannfelt’s first major scientific achievement was the detection of the “Swedish” mutation. This genetic mutation causes Alzheimer’s disease in a large family. The subsequent work on the mutation was performed in order to understand the mechanisms of the disease. He also performed genetic counseling for family members, which was the first time this was done for Alzheimer’s disease. Another major scientific breakthrough was the detection of the “Arctic” mutation, found in a family from northern Sweden. Studying this mutation it was revealed that the pathogenic effect was the generation of soluble Aβ protofibrils, and that these species of Aβ are likely to be present and toxic in all Alzheimer’s disease cases. Lars Lannfelt decided to target these toxic, soluble Aβ aggregates with immunotherapy and developed a conformation-dependent antibody, able to recognize Aβ protofibrils, mAb158. He co-founded BioArctic, which humanized mAb158 to BAN2401/lecanemab. BioArctic entered into a collaboration with Eisai, which has performed the clinical development. Positive results from a phase 3 clinical study came in the fall of 2022.

Juan Lantero-Rodriguez, MSc, PhD Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience & Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)

Patrick Lao, PhD, uses neuroimaging (PET, MRI) to study amyloid, tau, inflammation, vascular disease, and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease for health disparity populations.