Cure Alzheimer's Fund Cure Alzheimer's Fund

Robert Moir, Ph.D.

Massachusetts General Hospital
(1961–2019)

Dr. Rob Moir was a brilliant scientist whose pioneering research led to a fundamental shift in the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. He challenged the conventional wisdom that the buildup of amyloid in the brain was intrinsically pathological and aided the development of Alzheimer’s. While amyloid is understood to have a destructive role in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Moir proposed that amyloid defended against toxicity by trapping harmful microbes. After a decade of rejection, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund provided a grant to Dr. Moir, and his research results were published in Science Translational Medicine in 2016. His work was recognized as one of the top five discoveries in neurology for 2016. “Rob always thought outside of the box—he didn’t even know there was a box!,” said Dr. Rudy Tanzi. “He was a great, personal friend who never let anything stand in his way. He enjoyed life and always had a smile on his face.”

Related Research:

Chronic Viral Neuroinfection Mediates Amyloid Beta Deposition in Transgenic Alzheimer’s Disease Mice Robert Moir 2018-06-22 Amyloid Beta Expression Protects the Brain from Herpes Simplex Virus Robert Moir 2016-01-11 Role of the Gut Microbiome in AD Pathology and the Potential of Probiotic Therapeutic Strategies Deepak Kumar Vijaya Kumar Robert Moir 2015-11-03 Identification of Agents that Inhibit the Generation and Neurotoxicity of Cross-linked B-amyloid Protein Species Rudy Tanzi Robert Moir 2011-02-11 Investigation of Certain Properties of Mitochondria Membranes Related to AD Rudy Tanzi Robert Moir 2011-02-11 The Amylin Protein of Diabetes Mellitus is an Antimicrobial Peptide Robert Moir Rudy Tanzi 2011-02-11

Funded Research

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

Project Description Researchers Funding
Chronic Viral Neuroinfection Mediates Amyloid Beta Deposition in Transgenic Alzheimer’s Disease Mice 2017

$350,000
Amyloid Beta Expression Protects the Brain from Herpes Simplex Virus 2015, 2016

$500,000
Role of the Gut Microbiome in AD Pathology and the Potential of Probiotic Therapeutic Strategies 2015

$150,000
Identification of Agents that Inhibit the Generation and Neurotoxicity of Cross-linked B-amyloid Protein Species 2006, 2007

$200,000
Investigation of Certain Properties of Mitochondria Membranes Related to AD 2008

$200,000
The Amylin Protein of Diabetes Mellitus is an Antimicrobial Peptide 2010, 2012, 2013

$900,000

Selected Publications

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

Moir, R. D., & Tanzi, R. E. Low Evolutionary Selection Pressure in Senescence does not explain the persistence of amyloid-beta in the vertebrate genome, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, March 28, 2019, Read More

Moir, R. D., Lathe, R., & Tanzi, R. E. The Antimicrobial protection hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease, Alzheimer's & Dementia, October 9, 2018, Read More

Eimer, W. A., Vijaya Kumar, D. K., Navalpur Shanmugam, N. K., Rodriguez, A. S., Mitchell, T., Washicosky, K. J., György, B., Breakefield, X. O., Tanzi, R. E., & Moir, R. D. Alzheimer’s disease beta-amyloid is rapidly seeded by herpesviridae to protet against brain infection, Neuron, July 11, 2018, Read More

Kumar, D. K., Choi, S. H., Washicosky, K. J., Eimer, W. A., Tucker, S., Ghofrani, J., Lefkowitz, A., McColl, G., Goldstein, L. E., Tanzi, R. E., & Moir, R. D. Amyloid-beta peptide protects against microbial infection in mouse and worm models of Alzheimer’s disease, Science Translational Medicine, May 25, 2016, Read More

Goldstein, L. E., Fisher, A. M., Tagge, C. A., Zhang, X. L., Velisek, L., Sullivan, J. A., Upreti, C., Kracht, J. M., Ericsson, M., Wojnarowicz, M. W., Goletiani, C. J., Maglakelidze, G. M., Casey, N., Moncaster, J. A., Minaeva, O., Moir, R. D., … Tanzi, R. E., ... McKee, A. C. Chronic Traumatic encephalopathy in blast-exposed military veterans and a blast neurotrauma mouse model, Science Translational Medicine, May 16, 2012, Read More

Chakraborty, R., Vepuri, V., Mhatre, S. D., Paddock, B. E., Miller, S., Michelson, S. J., Delvadia, R., Desai, A., Vinokur, M., Melicharek, D. J., Utreja, S., Khandelwal, P., Ansaloni, S., Goldstein, L. E., Moir, R. D., Lee, J. C., Tabb, L. P., Saunders, A. J., & Marenda, D. R. Characterization of a Drosophila Alzheimer’s disease model: pharmacoogical rescue of cognitive defects, PLoS One, June 6, 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

Kim, M., Suh, J., Romano, D., Truong, M. H., Mullin, K., Hooli, B., Norton, D., Tesco, G., Elliott, K., Wagner, S. L., Moir, R. D., Becker, K. D., & Tanzi, R. E. Potential late-onset Alzheimer’s disease-associated mutations in the ADAM10 gene attenuate alpha-secretase activity, Human Molecular Genetics, October 15, 2009, Read More

Xie, Z., Culley, D. J., Dong, Y., Zhang, G., Zhang, B., Moir, R. D., Frosch, M. P., Crosby, G., & Tanzi, R. E. The common inhalation anesthetic isoflurane induces caspase activation and increases amyloid beta protein level in vivo, Annals of Neurology, November 11, 2008, Read More

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