David M. Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and head of Neurology, is the co-recipient of the MetLife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Holtzman is associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) and a member of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at the School of Medicine.
Holtzman received the honor Feb. 23 for his pioneering work in the study of the early molecular biology of Alzheimer’s disease, which has helped advance the search for new treatments and for ways to identify the disorder as soon as possible.
As a winner, Holtzman will receive a personal prize, and the University will receive $200,000 to promote research in Alzheimer’s disease.
Prior University recipients of the award include John C. Morris, M.D., director of the ADRC, and Alison Goate, Ph.D., professor of genetics in psychiatry. Holtzman received the foundation’s “promising work” grant in 2002.
The co-recipient for this year’s award is Berislav V. Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who studies the impact of blood flow in Alzheimer’s disease.
Among other accomplishments, Holtzman and his colleagues have studied the effects of antibodies against amyloid beta, a key component of the plaques that appear in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
Holtzman’s group, together with collaborators at Eli Lilly and Co., showed the antibodies could decrease amyloid plaques over months in mice. In addition, one antibody improved memory function in mice in a few days. A human form of an antibody is now being tested.
Researchers in Holtzman’s lab, including John Cirrito, Ph.D., postdoctoral research scholar, and Randy Bateman, M.D., assistant professor of neurology, also have developed ways to monitor the production and clearance of amyloid beta in both mice and humans. They hope the techniques will help answer lingering questions about whether the brains of Alzheimer’s patients make too much amyloid beta or fail to clear it out fast enough.
The answers will help scientists working to develop new diagnostic tests and treatments.
In addition, spinal fluid tests developed with colleagues including Morris; Anne Fagan, Ph.D., research associate professor of neurology; and Mark Mintun, M.D., professor of radiology, suggest that Alzheimer’s changes in the brain can be detected years before clinical symptoms develop.
Holtzman is a past recipient of the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, a MERIT award from the National Institute on Aging and the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association.