Jordi Folch-Pi Memorial Award for 1996
Dr. Mark Mattson
Dr. Mark Mattson, pictured above, was the winner of the 1996 Jordi-Folch-Pi Memorial Award. Dr. Mattson was selected to receive the Folch-Pi award for his research on establishing fundamental roles for calcium in the regulation of neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis. He also showed that perturbed neuronal calcium homeostasis is a pivotal event in Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Mattson is also responsible for the seminal findings that “apoptotic” and “inflammatory” mediators (caspases and TNF, for example) may serve adaptive roles in neuronal plasticity and survival. Most recently his work has focused on understanding how dietary factors and adaptive stress responses affect neural plasticity and vulnerability to disease. These findings are being translated into novel approaches to improve health during aging, and towards preventing and treating a range of neurological disorders.
Dr. Mattson received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Iowa in 1986. After 3 years of postdoctoral studies in Developmental Neuroscience at Colorado State University, Dr. Mattson took a faculty position at the Sanders-Brown Research Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky Medical Center where he was promoted to Full Professor in 1997. Dr. Mattson is currently Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, and Professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Ageing Research Reviews, and a Managing or Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurochemistry and Journal of Neuroscience Research. In addition, he has edited 10 volumes in the areas of mechanisms of cell death, aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Mattson has received numerous awards in addition to the Folch-Pi award including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award and the Alzheimer's Association Zenith Award. He is considered a leader in the area of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal plasticity and neurodegenerative disorders, and has made major contributions to understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, and to its prevention and treatment. Dr. Mattson has published more than 340 original research articles and more than 70 review articles.
Read the National Acadamy of Sciences' biographical memoir of Jordi Folch-Pi by Marjorie B. Lees and Alfred Pope.
Created 3/15/2009 SL
|
