The 2007 Alzheimer Award is being presented to Jing Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., in recognition of his outstanding work, "Detection of Biomarkers with a Multiplex Quantitative Proteomic Platform in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Neurodegenerative Disorders," by Fadi Abdi, Joseph F.Quinn, Joseph Jankovic, Martin McIntosh, James B. Leverenz, Elaine Peskind, Randy Nixon, John Nutt, Katherine Chung, Cyrus Zabetian, Ali Samii, Melanie Lin, Stephen Hattan, Catherine Pan, Yan Wang, Jinghua Jin, David Zhu, G. Jane Li, Yan Liu, Dana Waichunas, Thomas J. Montine, and Jing Zhang, published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease (IOS Press, Volume 9, pp. 293-348, 2006).
Dr. Zhang has begun applying a novel technology proteomics to neurodegenerative research. This study compared the proteins in Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) from patients with Alzheimers Disease (AD), Parkinsons Disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), along with healthy controls. A key component to the research was that three different diseases were analyzed simultaneously along with normal controls, which helped to determine whether a particular protein response was related to a specific disease, and not just a neurodegenerative disease in general. These protein biomarkers, if validated, could be used clinically to assist the diagnosis of these major neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, monitoring these markers could help gauge therapeutic effects of existing and new therapeutic drugs. As new treatments for AD and PD are developed, a diagnosis early in the course of the disease increases the likelihood of success from treatments that might slow disease progression, as well as helping patients and their families make plans for future care.
The research team is comprised of several neuropathologists, Drs. Ellsworth Alvord, James Leverenz, and Thomas Montine, and a key member of the team, Dr. Elaine Peskind, a prominent AD researcher at the University of Washington who has established
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Contact: George Perry
george.perry@utsa.edu
210-458-4450
University of Texas at San Antonio
23-May-2007