Dr Spillantini is the William Scholl University Lecturer in Neurology at Cambridge, and a fellow of Clare Hall.
Dr Spillantini is the William Scholl University Lecturer in Neurology at Cambridge, and a fellow of Clare Hall.
Dr Spillantini is the William Scholl University Lecturer in Neurology at Cambridge, and a fellow of Clare Hall.
On 2 May, Dr Maria Grazia Spillantini was the co-recipient of the 2000 Potamkin Prize, sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). The prize is awarded annually for pioneering international research into Pick's, Alzheimer's and related diseases.
Dr Spillantini is based at the MRC Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair. She shares the US$100,000 prize with Dr Michael Hutton, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Dr Spillantini's research involves studying proteins that appear to play an important role in the onset of degenerative brain diseases. The Potamkin Prize was awarded for her discovery and characterisation of mutations in the gene coding for a protein called "tau".
Tau protein can occur in several different types, or "isoforms". An unusual ratio of the different isoforms of tau protein is produced in the brains of people with some kinds of dementia, as a result of mutations in specific regions of the tau gene. Tau protein plays an important role in the normal functioning of nerve cells, but mutations in the tau gene can result in the accumulation of an abnormal form of the protein within the brain. The protein forms "plaques" or "tangles", which are associated with the development of some types of inherited parkinsonism - as well as Alzheimer's disease.
The Potamkin Prize committee felt that Dr Spillantini's work, together with that of Dr Hutton, "opens up an exciting new chapter" in understanding the molecular basis of such diseases.
In the future, Dr Spillantini hopes that such insights may eventually make it possible to find a way to slow or prevent the aggregation of the proteins, thereby offering some hope to the millions who will develop these devastating illnesses.
The Potamkin Prize was awarded to Dr Spillantini during the Presidential Plenary session of the AAN's annual meeting, which is currently taking place in San Diego, California, USA.
Further information:
Dr Spillantini's home page
MRC Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair
The American Academy of Neurology
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