Cure Alzheimer's Fund Cure Alzheimer's Fund

Roberto Malinow, M.D., Ph.D.

Shiley Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research; Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology and Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego

Dr. Malinow’s research is directed toward understanding how the brain forms and stores memories. His laboratory examines how neuronal activity controls the strength of communication between neurons, at sites called synapses. Synapses are key sites affected by diseases of cognition. Synaptic plasticity, or the ability of the connection between neurons to vary, is thought to underlie the formation and storage of memories. It is thought that a detailed understanding of synaptic plasticity will identify critical steps that may be the targets of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Such an understanding eventually may lead to treatments that prevent the disease.

Related Research:

Funded Research

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

Project Description Researchers Funding
Pharmacologically Protecting and Rescuing Synapses from Beta Amyloid by Raising Synaptic PSD-95 2018, 2020

$287,500
Characterizing the role of LOAD-associated variants of DLGAP1 in AD 2014

$100,000
Normalizing Abeta synaptic depression with drugs targeting PICK1 2013

$100,000
Understanding the Cell Biology Underlying the Effects of Abeta on Synapse 2008

$100,000
Rescue of Synapses in AD Rodent Models 2009

$100,000
NMDA Receptors 2010

$100,000

Selected Publications

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

Miyazaki T, Takase K, Nakajima W, Tada H, Ohya D, Sano A, Goto T, Hirase H, Malinow R, Takahashi T Disrupted cortical function underlies behavior dysfunction due to social isolation, J Clin Invest., 122(7), Jul 2, 2012, 2690-701, Read More

Wu-Zhang AX, Schramm CL, Nabavi S, Malinow R, Newton AC Cellular pharmacology of protein kinase Mζ (PKMζ) contrasts with its in vitro profile: implications for PKMζ as a mediator of memory, J Biol Chem., 287(16), Apr 13, 2012, 12879-85, Read More

Kessels HW, Nguyen LN, Nabavi S, Malinow R The prion protein as a receptor for beta-amyloid, Nature, 466(7308), Aug 12, 2010, E3-E5, Read More

Wei W, Nguyen L, Kessels HW, Hagiwara H, Sisodia S, Malinow R Amyloid beta from axons and dendrites reduces local spine number and plasticity, Nature Neuroscience, 13(2), Feb 2010, 190-196, Read More

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