UCLA & VA Translational Alzheimer’s Program
UCLA & VA Translational Alzheimer’s Program
Researching the root causes and treatments for Alzheimer's Disease
Working to Prevent & Treat Alzheimer's Disease
Our laboratory conducts research to better understand the cellular, biochemical and genetic pathways that disrupt cognition in Alzheimer's disease. Models are developed and used to investigate candidate molecules and cocktails that can prevent and even stop the disease.
Emphasis is on safe treatments that have strong rationale and extensive testing at the basic research level, on compounds, so that therapies can move rapidly from bench to bedside. Our goal is to coordinate our research with the NIH National Consortium Clinical Trials and local Alzheimer centers (UCLA Alzheimer Center) to accelerate effective prevention and treatment methods for Alzheimer's disease.
Meet Our Team
Our group was formed in Dec 1993 by Greg Cole, PhD and Dr. Sally Frautschy when they joined UCLA and the VA GRECC. It now consists of 4 key faculty members as well as senior post-doctoral researchers, visiting scholars and experienced technicians.
Dr. Greg Cole is the team leader who has worked on Alzheimer's since 1980 at UC Berkeley. He is the Associate Director of Research at the Veterans Administration Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center and Associate Director of Research at the UCLA Alzheimer Research Center, and Professor of Medicine (& Neurology) at UCLA.
Dr. Frautschy is also a Professor of Medicine & Neurology who has a MS & PhD in physiology and expertise designing models to mimic human diseases. Both Cole and Frautschy joined forces in 1993 to start a laboratory geared to improving treatments to reduce the incidence and prevalence of AD.
Two other faculty members in this group are Drs. Bruce Teter (with expertise in apolipoproteins) and Qiulan Ma (with expertise in molecular and cell biology and beta-amyloid oligomers) and Ed Teng (MD, PhD, GRECC Neurology).
Other key members of the team are post-doctoral associates (Drs. Fusheng Yang, Shuxin Hu, Aynun Begum, and Atul Desphande, MD from Jorge Busciglio's lab).