Cure Alzheimer's Fund Cure Alzheimer's Fund

William Van Nostrand, Ph.D.

Herrmann Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director, George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience;
Professor, Department of Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island

Dr. Van Nostrand is interested in understanding the role of amyloid ß-protein precursor (AßPP) and its derived fragment Aß in the cerebrovascular in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. His research focuses on identifying factors that regulate the assembly of Aß peptides in brain, with an emphasis of understanding their pathogenic interactions with cells in cerebral blood vessels that lead to cellular degeneration, loss of vessel wall integrity, and hemorrhagic stroke. His studies in this area are multi-leveled involving basic protein-protein interactions between Aß peptides and distinct chaperone proteins, in vitro cell culture models, and several in vivo transgenic mouse models recently developed in the laboratory. In addition, he has a strong interest in physiologic functions of AßPP in regulating hemostatic mechanisms. To this end he utilizes several in vivo mouse gene knockout and transgenic models to elucidate the role of AßPP in vascular processes involved in coagulation, stroke, and traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Van Nostrand earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, CA.

Related Research:

Effect of APOE Genotype in a Novel Rat Model of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy William Van Nostrand 2023-03-21 Modulation of Abeta Assembly and Cytotoxicity by a Fragment of Myelin Basic Protein William Van Nostrand 2011-02-11

Funded Research

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

Project Description Researchers Funding
Effect of APOE Genotype in a Novel Rat Model of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy 2023, 2024

$402,500
Modulation of Abeta Assembly and Cytotoxicity by a Fragment of Myelin Basic Protein 2008

$100,000

Selected Publications

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

Schrader, J. M., Majchrzak, M., Xu, F., Lee, H., Agostinucci, K., Davis, J., Benveniste, H., & Van Nostrand, W. E. Cerebral Proteomic Changes in the rTg-D Rat Model of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Type-2 With Cortical Microhemorrhages and Cognitive Impairments, Neuroscience Insights, October 8, 2024, Read More

Hoos, M. D., Ahmed, M., Smith, S. O., & Van Nostrand, W. E. Myelin basic protein binds to and inhibits the fibrillar assembly of Abeta42 in vitro., Biochemistry, April 22, 2009, Read More

Kotarba, A. E., Aucoin, D., Hoos, M. D., Smith, S. O., & Van Nostrand, W. E. Fine mapping of the amyloid β-protein binding site on myelin basic protein, Biochemistry, April 4, 2013, Read More

Fu, Z., Aucoin, D., Davis, J., Van Nostrand, W. E., & Smith, S. O. Mechanism of Nucleated conformational conversion of A beta 42, Biochemistry, June 12, 2015, Read More

Liao, M. C., Ahmed, M., Smith, S. O., & Van Nostrand, W. E. Degradation of amyloid beta protein by purified myelin basic protein, Journal of Biological Chemistry, August 19, 2009, Read More

Liao, M. C., Hoos, M. D., Aucoin, D., Ahmed, M., Davis, J., Smith, S. O., & Van Nostrand, W. E. N-terminal Domain of Myelin Basic Protein Inhibits Amyloid beta-Protein Fibril Assembly, Journal of Biological Chemistry, August 31, 2010, Read More

Ahmed, M., Davis, J., Aucoin, D., Sato, T., Ahuja, S., Aimoto, S., Elliott, J. I., Van Nostrand, W. E., & Smith, S. O. Structural conversion of neurotoxic amyloid-beta(1-42) oligomers to fibrils., Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, April 11, 2010, Read More

Chen, C. D., Zeldich, E., Khodr, C., Camara, K., Tung, T. Y., Lauder, E. C., Mullen, P., Polanco, T. J., Liu, Y. Y., Zeldich, D., Xia, W., Van Nostrand, W. E., Brown, L. E., Porco, J. A., & Abraham, C. R. Small molecule amyloid-beta protein precurosr processing modulators lower amyloid beta peptide levels via cKit signaling, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, February 12, 2019, Read More

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