A neuroscientist with interest in neurodegenrative diseases. I have published articles in reputable international journals

Andre Obenaus, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine. Current research interests encompass mechanistic studies in a variety of acquired brain injuries, including neurotrauma, stroke, epilepsy, early life adversity, and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). In models of brain injury, we described the temporal evolution of cerebrovascular alterations, and how the critical Wnt / β-catenin pathway contributes to recovery. He also uses neuroimaging to assess brain structural connectivity and tissue microstructure changes in neurotrauma, in early life adversity and in AD. Published and ongoing studies as a co-investigator of the Conte Center@UCI demonstrate that connectivity and microstructure between affective brain regions are perturbed after early life adversity. As a member of the MODEL AD consortia, Dr. Obenaus is phenotyping new and novel rodent models of AD that better replicate human disease (i.e., hAβKI mice), using multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging and vascular characterization to document longitudinal brain modifications. He has extensive collaborations with national and international researchers to complement and extend these research endeavors. Dr. Obenaus’ research has resulted in 200 peer-reviewed publications with funding from NIH, NSF, DOD, NASA, and others.

Dr. Olga Uspenskaya-Cadoz is a board certified neurologist with over 10 years of experience in clinical development. Olga completed her medical education as well residency in neurology at the First Moscow State Medical University, where she continued to serve as a clinical neurologist later. In this role she was responsible for inpatient and outpatient management of patients with neurologic diseases. Subsequently, she completed a PhD program in neurosciences at First Moscow State Medical University and Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany (focusing on CSF and blood-based biomarkers of AD); and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France (PIB-PET in AD vs. PCA). During her clinical and research career she has held academic positions which included research grants and lecturing on neurology topics. Prior to joining Prevail Therapeutics, Olga served as Senior Medical Director within IQVIA where she was overseeing large-scale clinical trials in AD, MS, PD, ALS, SMA. Moreover, she had global responsibility for the medical strategy of IQVIA neurology portfolio, thought leadership activities and training of junior medical directors. Before IQVIA, Dr. Uspenskaya-Cadoz had an investigator experience in neurology clinical trials and academic studies, mainly in Alzheimer's disease, FTLD, primary progressive aphasias, and age-related cognitive decline. She was medical/scientific coordinator of INSIGHT-preAD cohort sponsored by French National Institute of Health (Inserm). Dr. Uspenskaya-Cadoz has published in peer-reviewed clinical related journals, contributed to the chapters in neurology textbooks, as well as presented at neurology conferences worldwide.

Tiago Gil Oliveira is Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, research line coordinator at ICVS and neuroradiologist at Hospital de Braga. He was a student in the joint MD/PhD program of the University of Minho, Portugal and Columbia University, NYC, USA. He carried out his PhD studies at Columbia University, between 2007 and 2010, and MD studies at University of Minho. While studying the role of lipid signaling in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, he showed that the ablation of the lipid-modulating enzyme, phospholipase D2, was protective in different Alzheimer’s disease models. Following his MD/PhD, in 2011 he started as an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Minho. He expanded his research interests to the study of mood disorders. Using an unbiased lipidomic approach, his laboratory showed that specific lipid signaling pathways were altered in a chronic stress model, unraveling new potential therapeutic targets. In parallel with his academic work he continued his medical career. He is now using lipidomic approaches together with brain imaging to study neurodegenerative disorders.

I am an evolutionary and computational biologist focusing on the biology of sex differences in gene expression. My research delves into the profound disparities in susceptibility and mortality risk among major human diseases, such as cancers, neurodegenerative disorders, and autoimmune diseases, all of which exhibit extreme sex differences. The sex chromosomes (X and Y) represent the most sex-biased region in the genome. Paradoxically, these vital chromosomes are frequently omitted from genomic analyses due to sequence homology challenges. To address this gap, I've helped develop a computational protocol that takes into account genomic sex differences, specifically between males (XY) and females (XX), when aligning sequence data. The results of this approach, as outlined in Olney et al. (2020), underscore its potential to significantly enhance the detection of gene expression differences between the sexes. Building on the success of my doctoral studies, I eagerly joined Dr. John Fryer's lab at Mayo Clinic Arizona. Dr. Fryer's research is centered on unraveling the molecular underpinnings of neuroinflammation prevalent in debilitating neurological conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, as well as other devastating ailments such as sepsis, which can lead to enduring cognitive dysfunction in survivors. Notably, Alzheimer's disease exhibits well-documented sex differences in susceptibility and mortality, with a significant majority of affected individuals in the United States being female. As a post-doc, I aim to leverage my expertise in understanding the molecular mechanisms of gene expression underlying sex differences in human health and disease. Specifically, I will focus on characterizing transcriptional sex differences among dementia pathologies. This endeavor holds the promise of shedding light on the transcriptional alterations that distinguish males and females in the context of these debilitating conditions, contributing to a deeper understanding of the intricacies of sex-based disparities in health and disease.

1997 M.D. Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 2002 Ph.D. Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Japan 2002-2004 Neurology in Chief, Department of Neurology, Kanazawa-Nishi Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan 2007-2009 Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Neurology (David B. Teplow’s laboratory), David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles 2011-2015 Lecturer, Department of Neurology, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan 2015-2016 Professor, Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 2016-2021 Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 2021- Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 2022- Visiting Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Functional Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan 2023- 　 Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Toyama University, Toyama, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Kanazawa Medical University, Kanazawa, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Fujita Medical University, Aichi, Japan Visiting Professor, Department of Neurology, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Kate is a final year doctoral student at Western University in London, ON, Canada. Her research takes a cross-species multimodal neuroimaging approach to validate a novel biomarker for cholinergic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease.

Marlies Oosthoek is a PhD student at the Neurochemistry laboratory and Alzheimer Center from Amsterdam University Medical Center, supervised by Charlotte Teunissen and Everard Vijverberg. She has a background in Bio-Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences. Her research focusses on fluid-based biomarkers in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease targeting different aspects, such as uncovering potential novel biomarkers and further analytical validation of immunoassays. Furthermore, she is involved as a project manager in several clinical trials focusing on lipid related treatments in Alzheimer’s disease.

Anja Ophey is a psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University Hospital Cologne interested in unraveling and modulating cognitive functioning from healthy aging to neurodegenerative diseases, especially Parkinson's disease. By exploring determinants of preserved cognitive health and neural correlates of cognitive decline, she aims to illuminate relevant targets for neuromodulatory interventions in the age of precision medicine. Consequently, the effects and mechanisms of cognitive and neural plasticity following non-pharmacological interventions, e.g., cognitive training, operationalized by multimodal endpoints (e.g., neuropsychological testing, accelerometry, MRI, polysomnography), are investigated, offering valuable insights for both clinical practice and research.