Dennis J. Selkoe (born 25 September 1943) is an American physician (neurologist) known for his research into the molecular basis of
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 ...
. In 1985 he became Co-Director of the Center for Neurological Diseases and from 1990, Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurological Diseases at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
. He is also a Fellow of the
AAAS and a member of the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...
.
Career and early life
Selkoe studied at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
(Bachelor's degree 1965) and the
University of Virginia School of Medicine
The University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA SOM or more commonly known as UVA Medicine) is the graduate medical school of the University of Virginia. The school's facilities are on the University of Virginia grounds adjacent to The Lawn, ...
(M. D. 1969). He took up a residency at the
University of Pennsylvania Hospital
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is the flagship hospital of Penn Medicine and is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia.
History
The hospital was founded at its current location in 1874 by the Univers ...
(1969). From 1970 to 1972, he performed research at the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
and continued his residency as a neurologist at the
Peter Bent Brigham Children's Hospital and
Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.
In 1975, he held the position of instructor at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, before moving up to assistant professor in 1978.
In 1978, he established a laboratory at Brigham and Women's to apply biochemical and cell biological methods to the study of degenerative neural diseases such as Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
.
In 1982, he and collaborators isolated the clusters of neurofibrils typical of Alzheimer's disease and described their chemical properties. With other laboratories, he showed that the
tau protein
The tau proteins (abbreviated from tubulin associated unit) form a group of six highly soluble protein isoforms produced by alternative splicing from the gene ''MAPT'' (microtubule-associated protein tau). They have roles primarily in maintainin ...
of the microfibrils is their main component. With his laboratory, he also conducted extensive research on the second pathogenic component,
senile plaque
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 everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, ...
s of
beta-amyloid
Amyloid beta (Aβ, Abeta or beta-amyloid) denotes peptides of 36–43 amino acids that are the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The peptides derive from the amyloid-beta precursor pro ...
(Aβ). They discovered in 1992 that Aβ is also formed in normal cells from its precursor
amyloid precursor protein
Amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) is an integral membrane protein expressed in many biological tissue, tissues and concentrated in the synapses of neurons. It functions as a cell surface receptor and has been implicated as a regulator of s ...
. The study of these processes led to the identification of inhibitors for the formation of Aβ. Selkoe was also able to show with his laboratory that innate mutations in the APP genes and the
presenilin
Presenilins are a family of related multi-pass transmembrane proteins which constitute the catalytic subunits of the gamma-secretase intramembrane protease protein complex. They were first identified in screens for mutations causing early ons ...
genes cause Alzheimer's disease (increased Aβ production). In 1999, he and co-workers identified presenilin as a component of the long-sought-after
gamma-secretase
Gamma secretase is a multi-subunit protease complex, an integral membrane protein, that cleaves single-pass transmembrane proteins at residues within the transmembrane domain. Proteases of this type are known as intramembrane proteases. The most ...
, one of the enzymes involved in the pathogenic conversion of APP to Aβ in Alzheimer's disease. In his laboratory, it could also be shown that small, soluble oligomers from Aβ can damage the synapses and have an influence on memory performance.
He was the principal founding scientist of the pharmaceutical company Athena Neurosciences (later
Elan Corporation). In 2001 he was one of the founders of the
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
Medical Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair. He has been on the board of Prothena Corporation since 2013.
He has an
h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...
of 183 according to
Semantic Scholar
Semantic Scholar is a research tool for scientific literature. It is developed at the Allen Institute for AI and was publicly released in November 2015. Semantic Scholar uses modern techniques in natural language processing to support the resear ...
.
Awards and honors
* Life Achievement Award from the Alzheimer's Association (2008)
* Member of the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...
(2005)
* Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
(2003)
*
Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Medicine (2002)
* Rita Hayworth Award from the
Alzheimer's Association
The Alzheimer's Association is a nonprofit voluntary health organization that focuses on Alzheimer's disease care, support and research.
History
Jerome H. Stone founded the Alzheimer's Association with the help of several family support groups ...
(1995)
*
Honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
(1991)
*
Potamkin Prize
The Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's, and Related Diseases was established in 1988 and is sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology. The prize is funded through the philanthropy of the Potamkin Foundation. The prize is awarde ...
(1989)
*
(1986)
* Wood Kalb Foundation Prize (1984)
Publications
Authored
Immunization Against Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders(2003)
The therapeutics of Alzheimer's disease: Where we stand and where we are heading(2013)
SnapShot: Pathobiology of Alzheimer's Disease(2013)
*
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease (2012)
Resolving controversies on the path to Alzheimer's therapeutics(2011)
Alzheimer's disease(2011)
Biochemistry and molecular biology of amyloid beta-protein and the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease(2008)
Soluble oligomers of the amyloid beta-protein impair synaptic plasticity and behavior(2008)
Developing preventive therapies for chronic diseases: lessons learned from Alzheimer's disease(2007)
Amyloid beta-peptide is produced by cultured cells during normal metabolism: a reprise(2006)
The ups and downs of Abeta(2006)
Co-authored
A Stearoyl–Coenzyme A Desaturase Inhibitor Prevents Multiple Parkinson Disease Phenotypes in α‐Synuclein Mice(with Silke Nuber, Alice Y. Nam, Molly M. Rajsombath, Haley Cirka Xiaoping Hronowski, Junmin Wang, Kevin Hodgetts, Liubov S. Kalinichenko, Christian P. Müller, Vera Lambrecht, Jürgen Winkler, Andreas Weihofen, Thibaut Imberdis, Ulf Dettmer, Saranna Fanning (2020)
Analysis of α-synuclein species enriched from cerebral cortex of humans with sporadic dementia with Lewy bodies(with John B Sanderson, Suman De, Haiyang Jiang, Matteo Rovere, Ming Jin, Ludovica Zaccagnini, Aurelia Hays Watson, Laura De Boni, Valentina N Lagomarsino, Tracy L Young-Pearse, Xinyue Liu, Thomas C Pochapsky, Bradley T Hyman, Dennis W Dickson, David Klenerman, Dennis J Selkoe, Tim Bartels) (2020)
Amyloid β-protein and beyond: the path forward in Alzheimer's disease(with Walsh DM) (2020)
Dynamics of plasma biomarkers in Down syndrome: the relative levels of Aβ42 decrease with age, whereas NT1 tau and NfL increase(with Mengel D, Liu W, Glynn RJ, Strydom A, Lai F, Rosas HD, Torres A, Patsiogiannis V, Skotko B, Walsh DM. ) (2020)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selkoe, Dennis J.
1943 births
Living people
Columbia University alumni
University of Virginia School of Medicine alumni
Harvard Medical School faculty
American neurologists
Winners of the Heineken Prize
Members of the National Academy of Medicine