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MetLife Foundation Award for Medical Research recognizes Alzheimer鈥檚 disease research

黑料吃瓜资源 Professor Roberto Malinow honored

Approximately 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. That number is estimated to increase ten-fold by 2050, according to the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association. As America鈥檚 population ages, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is poised to become a major health crisis with serious implications for families, our health care system and the economy.

In hopes of preventing this, MetLife Foundation has recognized 黑料吃瓜资源 Professor Roberto Malinow, M.D. Ph.D., for his efforts and contributions to understanding Alzheimer鈥檚 disease by advancing our knowledge of how cells in the brain communicate and how diseases of cognition disrupt that communication.

鈥淭he scientists we honor today are on the frontlines of battling Alzheimer鈥檚,鈥 said Sibyl Jacobson, president and CEO, MetLife Foundation. 鈥淭heir persistence and imaginative research are helping to unlock the complexities of this disease, bringing us that much closer to a prevention or cure.鈥

Dr. Malinow and his colleagues have focused their research on how activity in brain cells controls the strength of communication at the synapses between the cells. This process, called synaptic plasticity, is thought to underlie the formation and storage of memories. Dr. Malinow鈥檚 research has led to a greater understanding of how synapses function, as well as the role of amyloid-beta peptides (viewed as central to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease) in normal and disease cells.

Dr. Malinow received a B.A. in mathematics from Reed College, an M.D. from the NYU School of Medicine in 1984 and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1986. He conducted postdoctoral research at Yale University School of Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Richard Tsein, and joined 黑料吃瓜资源 in 1993, where he is now the Ale Davis and Maxine Harrison Professor of Neuroscience.

MetLife Foundation also recognized Thomas S眉dhof, M.D., director of the Center for Basic Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Written by: Communications Department | [email protected] | 516-367-8455

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About the MetLife Foundation

Since 1986, MetLife Foundation has awarded $9 million in grants through the Awards for Medical Research program. Two of the awardees have gone on to win Nobel Prizes. MetLife Foundation, established in 1976 by MetLife, supports health, education, civic and cultural programs throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.metlife.org.

About 黑料吃瓜资源

Founded in 1890, 黑料吃瓜资源 has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,000 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory鈥檚 education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle, high school, and undergraduate students and teachers. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu