Carl Wayne Cotman (5 April 1940 – 5 August 2024) was an American neuroscientist. He was a professor of

neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

at the

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine (with the affiliated healthcare system branded as UC Irvine Health) is the medical school of University of California, Irvine, located in Irvine, California. It is accredited by the Liaison ...

, where he was also the founding director of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia and the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND). He is known for researching the

neurochemistry Neurochemistry is the study of chemicals, including neurotransmitters and other molecules such as psychopharmaceuticals and neuropeptides, that control and influence the physiology of the nervous system. This particular field within neuroscience e ...

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and other forms of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. His research has shown, for example, that

physical exercise Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...

increases production of brain-derived neurotropic factor, which protects

neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

s from aging-related damage and promotes the growth of new ones. Cotman died in August 2024.

References

External links

Faculty page
Living people American neurologists American neuroscientists University of California, Irvine faculty Alzheimer's disease researchers Neurochemists Indiana University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American biochemists {{Neuroscientist-stub