Cynthia A. Lemere, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurology, Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School


Cynthia A. Lemere, Ph.D., is a Scientist in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Lemere’s research focuses on understanding and using the immune system therapeutically to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Lemere earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and education from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s in neurobiology from SUNY Albany. Dr. Lemere examined Alzheimer’s-related brain changes in people with Down syndrome in the Selkoe Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) while pursuing her doctorate in Pathology at Boston University School of Medicine. After receiving her Ph.D., she remained at the BWH Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases within the Department of Neurology where she is an associate professor. Her current research involves:

1. non-clinical studies of antibody treatments targeting a pathogenic form of amyloid-beta protein in Alzheimer’s disease;

2. the role of complement signaling in aging and Alzheimer’s disease; and

3. the effects of deep space galactic cosmic radiation on brain aging and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in studies in mouse models and human neural cells in preparation for NASA’s first manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

Her lab is funded by NIH and NASA. Dr. Lemere is a member and the past chair of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Group and a former member of the Association’s board of directors. She is a member of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Leadership Group. In addition, she serves as a scientific advisor for several foundations, conferences, and companies.

To learn more, visit the Lemere Lab website and Dr. Lemere’s Harvard Catalyst profile.

Funded Research

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

Selected Publications

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

Krasemann, S., Madore, C., Cialic, R., Baufeld, C., ... Ulrich, J. D., … Lemere, C., Ikezu, T., ... Holtzman, D. M. … Haass, C., Butovsky, O. The TREM2-APOE Pathway drives the transcriptional phenotype of dysfunctional microglia in Neurodegenerative Diseases, Immunity, September 19, 2017, Read More

Mably, A. J., Kanmert, D., Mc Donald, J. M., Liu, W., Caldarone, B. J., Lemere, C. A., O'Nuallain, B., Kosik, K. S., & Walsh, D. M. Tau immunization: a cautionary tale?, Neurobiology of Aging, March 1, 2015, Read More

An, K., Klyubin, I., Kim, Y., Jung, J. H., Mably, A. J., O'Dowd, S. T., Lynch, T., Kanmert, D., Lemere, C. A., Finan, G. M., Park, J. W., Kim, T. W., Walsh, D. M., Rowan, M. J., & Kim, J. H. Exosomes neutralize synaptic-plasticity-disrupting activity of A beta assemblies in vivo, Molecular Brain, November 13, 2013, Read More

Snyder, H. M., Bain, L. J., Brickman, A. M., Carrillo, M. C., Esbensen, A. J., Espinosa, J. M., Fernandez, F., Fortea, J., Hartley, S. L., Head, E., Hendrix, J., Kishnani, P. S., Lai, F., Lao, P., Lemere, C., Mobley, W., Mufson, E. J., Potter, H., Zaman, S. H., Granholm, A. C., … Rafii, M. S. Further understanding the connection between Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome, Alzheimer's & Dementia, June 16, 2020, Read More