Michel Goedert FRS, FMedSci is a Luxembourgish-British

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

and former Head of Neurobiology, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Goedert was born and raised in Luxembourg. After finishing his medical studies at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universitie ...

in 1986, he started working at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology affiliated with the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Goedert was awarded the

Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease The Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease were awarded annually from 1986 to 2016 to recognize scientific contributions toward a better understanding of the underlying causes, prevention, and treatments of Alzheimer' ...

in 1996, the Potamkin Prize in 1998 and the ''European Grand Prix for Research'' by the Foundation for Research on Alzheimer's disease in 2014. In 2018 he was one of four recipients of the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize with the citation "For their groundbreaking research on the genetic and molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease, with far-reaching implications for the development of new therapeutic interventions as well as for the understanding of other neurodegenerative diseases of the brain". In 2019 he received the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

. and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation prize for outstanding innovation in neurodegenerative disorder research. He is married to Maria Grazia Spillantini, a geneticist with whom he has one son, Thomas.

Research

Goedert's work combines biochemical, molecular biological and structural techniques to investigate common neurodegenerative diseases, including

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

and

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms become ...

. His research focused on the abnormal filamentous inclusions that characterise Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, showing that the intracellular filaments of these diseases are made of either

alpha-synuclein Alpha-synuclein is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''SNCA'' gene. Alpha-synuclein is a neuronal protein that regulates synaptic vesicle trafficking and subsequent neurotransmitter release. It is abundant in the brain, while smaller a ...

tau protein The tau proteins (abbreviated from tubulin associated unit) are 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 maintaining ...

. Goedert's team identified mutations in ''MAPT'', the tau gene, that cause rare inherited forms of

frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), or frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present a ...

with tau inclusions, establishing a central role for tau assembly in the disease.

Works

References

External links

Dr Michel Goedert
*http://www.prion2014.org/images/bio_Goedert.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Goedert, Michel 20th-century births Living people British neuroscientists University of Basel alumni Academics of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Royal Medal winners Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)