Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Director, Molecular NeuroTherapeutics Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Florida.  Research in the clinic focuses on neuroimmune cell-mediated regulations of neuronal function, neurogenesis, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. Researchers in Dr. Ikezu’s lab are particularly interested in how the innate immune-related cells, extracellular vehicles (EVs), and molecules in the central nervous system (CNS) influence the pathology and progression of select neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia.

Prior to this, Dr. Ikezu was Professor of Pharmacology and Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and led the Laboratory of Molecular NeuroTherapeutics for over 10 years. He has been investigating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) for over 20 years, and he has performed pioneering research into how modulation of neuroinflammation or neurogenesis enhances hippocampal function and ameliorates AD-like neuropathology through viral gene transfer system. He originally discovered caveolae as a platform of APP processing, cloned tau-tubulin kinase-1 as a neuron-specific tau kinase, characterized anti-inflammatory cytokine modulation of hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive enhancement, microglia-neural stem cell interactions, and recently discovered new roles of microglia and exosomes for spreading of pathogenic tau protein in the brain.

He has authored more than 99 journal articles, edited the textbook Neuroimmune Pharmacology (Springer Nature) and served on several editorial boards. Over his career, Dr. Ikezu has received Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Award (2000), Inge Grundke Iqbal Award from Alzheimer’s Association (2016) and recently Jack Spivack Excellence in Neuroscience Award (2018).

Dr. Ikezu received his M.D. and Ph.D. from University of Tokyo School of Medicine, completed post-doctoral trainings at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and was Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at University of Nebraska Medical Center prior to joining Boston University (1999-2010).

Follow Dr. Ikezu at https://www.tsuneyaikezu.com and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TsuneyaIkezu

Dr. Ikezu’s lab webpage: The Molecular Neurotherapeutics Laboratory at Mayo Clinic