2025 Karen L. Wrenn Lectureship, Speaker: Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe, MD

The advent of Alzheimer treatments will change the trajectory of human aging.

Dennis J. Selkoe, MD

The Vincent and Stella  Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases
Harvard Medical School
Co-Director, Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Disease
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dennis Selkoe has devoted his career to the use of molecular approaches to study Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease and related basic biological questions. Selkoe and coworkers broke new ground in 1982 when they developed a method to isolate the abnormal neurofibrillary tangles that are a hallmark of AD and then, with other labs, identified the microtubule-associated protein tau as the principal component of tangles. Selkoe then conducted extensive experiments on the amyloid ß-protein (Aß) and its precursor, APP which led him to formulate the amyloid hypothesis. The lab showed that inherited mutations in APP, and later the presenilin genes, cause AD by increasing the generation of Aß. In 1999, Selkoe and colleagues identified presenilin as the long-sought gamma-secretase that processes APP, Notch and many other proteins. Recently, the Selkoe lab conducted a series of studies showing that small, soluble oligomers of Aß are responsible for synaptic injury and interfere with memory. These advances have led to numerous awards, including the Potamkin Prize and the A.H. Heineken Price for Medicine. Selkoe is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Hosts: Drs. Murali Doraiswamy & Steve Lisberger