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Bradley T. Hyman, M.D., Ph.D.

John B. Penney, Jr., Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Director, MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND), Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Hyman directs the Alzheimer’s unit at MIND (Massachusetts Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease), with the goal of understanding the neuropathophysiologic and genetic factors that underlie dementia. The take-off point for Dr. Hyman’s research program involves understanding the neural system failure that underlies cognitive loss in Alzheimer’s, and an appreciation of how genetics impacts pathophysiology. His laboratory also uses transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and in vitro systems to examine the roles of presenilin mutations and receptors in neuronal function and on Alzheimer’s related processes.

A recent initiative in Dr. Hyman’s laboratory has been the development of in vivo imaging with 2-photon confocal microscopy. This provides the ability to view neurons in the intact, functioning brain in mice and track the pathological changes that occur during disease processes. His lab has shown that plaques can be reversed by therapeutic application of antibodies.

Dr. Hyman is statewide chair of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk.

Related Research:

Alzheimer’s Disease Tau Consortium: Toxic Consequences of Early Tau Seeding Bradley T. Hyman Rachel Bennett 2024-12-24 Selective Vulnerability in Posterior Cortical Atrophy John R. Dickson Bradley T. Hyman 2024-11-21 Alzheimer’s Disease Tau Consortium: How Do Soluble Tau Species Replicate Bradley T. Hyman 2023-01-18 Regional Variability of Pathology-Associated Properties of Tau in Posterior Cortical Atrophy Bradley T. Hyman John R. Dickson 2022-05-09 Creation of a Fibroblast/iPS Cell Bank to Facilitate Peripheral/Brain Comparisons, and Allow Molecular Investigations into Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Differences in Disease Aggressiveness Bradley T. Hyman 2020-11-05 CIRCUITS: IPS Cells and the Human Brain Bradley T. Hyman 2017-01-05 Relating AD Brain Morphology to AD Genotype Bradley T. Hyman 2011-02-11

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Project Description Researchers Funding
Alzheimer’s Disease Tau Consortium: Toxic Consequences of Early Tau Seeding 2024

$287,500

Selective Vulnerability in Posterior Cortical Atrophy 2024

$230,000

Alzheimer’s Disease Tau Consortium: How Do Soluble Tau Species Replicate 2022, 2023

$573,764.15
Regional Variability of Pathology-Associated Properties of Tau in Posterior Cortical Atrophy 2022, 2023

$345,000
Creation of a Fibroblast/iPS Cell Bank to Facilitate Peripheral/Brain Comparisons, and Allow Molecular Investigations into Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Differences in Disease Aggressiveness 2020, 2022

$500,000
CIRCUITS: IPS Cells and the Human Brain 2016, 2018

$293,736
Relating AD Brain Morphology to AD Genotype 2006

$100,000

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Dickson, J. R., Sobolewski, R. G. R., Fernandes, A. R., Cooper, J. M., Fan, Z., Chung, M., Donahue, C., Oakley, D. H., Strickland, D. K., & Hyman, B. T. Alzheimer disease-associated tau post-translational modification mimics impact tau propagation and uptake, Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, February 21, 2025, Read More

Zwang, T. J., Sastre, E. D., Wolf, N., Ruiz-Uribe, N., Woost, B., Hoglund, Z., Fan, Z., Bailey, J., Nfor, L., Buée, L., Nilsson, K. P. R., Hyman, B. T., & Bennett, R. E. Neurofibrillary tangle-bearing neurons have reduced risk of cell death in mice with Alzheimer’s pathology, Cell Reports, August 2, 2024, Read More

Oakley, D. H., Chung, M., Abrha, S., Hyman, B. T., & Frosch, M. P. β-Amyloid species production and tau phosphorylation in iPSC-neurons with reference to neuropathologically characterized matched donor brains, Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, June 14, 2024, Read More

Sommerer, Y., Ohlei, O., Dobricic, V., Oakley, D. H., Wesse, T., Sedghpour Sabet, S., Demuth, I., Franke, A., Hyman, B. T., Lill, C. M., & Bertram, L. A correlation map of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns between paired human brain and buccal samples, Clinical Epigenetics, November 1, 2022, Read More

Liao, F., Hori, Y., Hudry, E., Bauer, A. Q., Jiang, H., Mahan, T. E., Lefton, K. B., Zhang, T. J., Dearborn, J. T., Kim, J., Culver, J. P., Betensky, R., Wozniak, D. F., Hyman, B. T., & Holtzman, D. M. Anti-ApoE Antibody given after plaque onset decreases A beta accumulation and improves brain function in a mouse model of a beta amyloidosis, Journal of Neuroscience, May 21, 2014, Read More

Hudry, E., Andres-Mateos, E., Lerner, E. P., Volak, A., Cohen, O., Hyman, B. T., Maguire, C. A., & Vandenberghe, L. H. Efficient Gene Transfer to the Central Nervous System by single-stranded Anc80L65, Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, September 21, 2018, Read More

Volak, A., LeRoy, S. G., Natasan, J. S., Park, D. J., Cheah, P. S., Maus, A., Fitzpatrick, Z., Hudry, E., Pinkham, K., Gandhi, S., Hyman, B. T., Mu, D., GuhaSarkar, D., Stemmer-Rachamimov, A. O., Sena-Esteves, M., Badr, C. E., & Maguire, C. A. Virus vector mediated genetic modification of brain tumor stromal cells after intravenous delivery, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, September 1, 2018, Read More

Oakley, D. H., Klickstein, N., Commins, C., Chung, M., Dujardin, S., Bennett, R. E., Hyman, B. T., & Frosch, M. P. Continuous Monitoring of Tau-Induced Neurotoxicity in Patient-Derived iPSC-Neurons, Journal of Neuroscience, April 23, 2021, Read More

Oakley, D. H., Chung, M., Klickstein, N., Commins, C., Hyman, B. T., & Frosch, M. P. The Alzheimer Disease-Causing Presenilin-1 L435F Mutation Causes Increased Production of Soluble Aβ43 Species in Patient-Derived iPSC-Neurons, Closely Mimicking Matched Patient Brain Tissue, Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, April 4, 2020, Read More

Jackson, R. J., Meltzer, J. C., Nguyen, H., Commins, C., Bennett, R. E., Hudry, E., & Hyman, B. T. APOE4 derived from astrocytes leads to blood-brain barrier impairment, Brain, December 27, 2021, Read More

Glynn, C., Chun, J. E., Donahue, C. C., Nadler, M. J. S., Fan, Z., & Hyman, B. T. Reconstitution of the Alzheimer’s Disease Tau Core Structure from Recombinant Tau297-391 Yields Variable Quaternary Structures as Seen by Negative Stain and Cryo-EM, Biochemistry, December 28, 2023, Read More

Hyman, B. All the Tau We Cannot See, Annual Review of Medicine, January 27, 2023, Read More

Mate De Gerando, A., Welikovitch, L. A., Khasnavis, A., Commins, C., Glynn, C., Chun, J. E., Perbet, R., & Hyman, B. T. Tau seeding and spreading in vivo is supported by both AD-derived fibrillar and oligomeric tau, Acta Neuropathologica, June 21, 2023, Read More

Dujardin, S., Commins, C., Lathuiliere, A., Beerepoot, P., Fernandes, A. R., Kamath, T. V., De Los Santos, M. B., Klickstein, N., Corjuc, D. L., Corjuc, B. T., Dooley, P. M., Viode, A., Oakley, D. H., Moore, B. D., Mullin, K., Jean-Gilles, D., Clark, R., Atchison, K., Moore, R., Chibnik, L. B., Tanzi, R. E., … Hyman, B. T. Tau molecular diversity contributes to clinical heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease, Nature Medicine, June 22, 2020, Read More

Cable, J., Holtzman, D. M., Hyman, B. T., Tansey, M. G., Colonna, M., Kellis, M., Brinton, R. D., Albert, M., Wellington, C. L., Sisodia, S. S., & Tanzi, R. E. Alternatives to Amyloid for Alzheimer’s Disease Therapies-A Symposium Report, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, May 29, 2020, Read More

Hyman, B. T., Growdon, J. H., Albers, M. W., Buckner, R. L., Chhatwal, J., Gomez-Isla, M. T., Haass, C., Hudry, E., Jack, C. R., Jr, Johnson, K. A., Khachaturian, Z. S., Kim, D. Y., Martin, J. B., Nitsch, R. M., Rosen, B. R., Selkoe, D. J., Sperling, R. A., St George-Hyslop, P., Tanzi, R. E., Yap, L., Young, A. B., Phelps, C. H., & McCaffrey, P.M. Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center: Progress and Challenges, Alzheimer's & Dementia, October 1, 2015, Read More

Griciuc, A., Serrano-Pozo, A., Parrado, A. R., Lesinski, A. N., Asselin, C. N., Mullin, K., Hooli, B., Choi, S. H., Hyman, B. T., & Tanzi, R. E. Alzheimer’s disease risk gene CD33 inhibits microglial uptake of amyloid beta, Neuron, May 22, 2013, Read More

Viswanathan, J., Haapasalo, A., Böttcher, C., Miettinen, R., Kurkinen, K. M., Lu, A., Thomas, A., Maynard, C. J., Romano, D., Hyman, B. T., Berezovska, O., Bertram, L., Soininen, H., Dantuma, N. P., Tanzi, R. E., & Hiltunen, M. Alzheimer’s disease-associated Ubiquilin-1 regulates presenilin-1 accumulation and aggresome formation, Traffic, January 7, 2011, Read More

Soscia, S. J., Kirby, J. E., Washicosky, K. J., Tucker, S. M., Ingelsson, M., Hyman, B., Burton, M. A., Goldstein, L. E., Duong, S., Tanzi, R. E., & Moir, R. D. The Alzheimer’s Disease-Associated Amyloid beta-Protein Is an Antimicrobial Peptide, PLoS One, March 3, 2010, Read More

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