This 1-day symposium will showcase foundational achievements of the past, groundbreaking discoveries of the present, and the exciting future potential of disease-focused neuroscience. It will feature presentations by current investigators, distinguished alumni, and invited panelists from across the Bay Area. 

A Quarter Century of Discovery

In 2023, the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease will celebrate 25 years at the forefront of disease-focused neuroscience. Since 1998, its investigators have helped unravel some of the most devastating brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy.

Please be sure to register.

8:15 – 9:00    Continental Breakfast 

INTRODUCTION AND SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS

9:00 – 9:50    “Embracing Unorthodoxy to Advance Disease-Focused Neuroscience from Molecules and Cells to Networks and Translation”
Lennart Mucke, MD, Director and Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND), Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Neurology, UC San Francisco

9:50 – 10:00    “Making History with an Eye on the Future”
Robert W. Mahley MD, PhD, Senior Investigator and President Emeritus, Gladstone Institutes, and Professor, Departments of Pathology and Medicine, UCSF

10:00 – 10:35    “Blood Drivers of Neurodegeneration”
Katerina Akassoglou, PhD, Senior Investigator, GIND, Director, Gladstone-UCSF Center for Neurovascular Brain Immunology, and Professor of Neurology, UCSF

10:35 – 10:50    Break

10:50 – 11:25    “Machine Learning Approaches for Behavioral Phenotyping in Humanized Models of Alzheimer Disease”
Jorge Palop, PhD, Associate Investigator, GIND, and Associate Professor of Neurology, UCSF

11:25 – 12:00    “Circulatory Factors as Regulators of Brain Aging and Disease”
Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, Director, Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, and D.H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University

12:00 – 12:45    Lunch 

12:45 – 1:20    “Deconstructing Cellular and Circuit Mechanisms in Epilepsy”
Jeanne Paz, PhD, Associate Investigator, GIND, and Associate Professor of Neurology, UCSF

1:20 – 1:55    “Neuroimmune Modulation by AD Risk Factors and Therapeutic Opportunities”
Li Gan, PhD, Director, Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute, and Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Distinguished Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases, Weill Cornell Medicine

1:55 – 2:10    Break    

2:10 – 2:45    “Multi-Omic Dissection of Noncoding Genetic Drivers of Neurodegenerative Disease Risk”
Ryan Corces, PhD, Assistant Investigator, GIND, and Assistant Professor of Neurology, UCSF

2:45 – 3:20    “Understanding and Targeting Energy Failure”
Ken Nakamura, MD, PhD, Associate Investigator, GIND, and Professor of Neurology, UCSF & Neal Bennett, PhD, Staff Scientist, Nakamura Lab 

3:20 – 3:30    Break

3:30 – 4:05    “A 25-Year Journey of Tracing Neuronal ApoE4 in Alzheimer’s Disease”
Yadong Huang, MD, PhD, Senior Investigator, GIND, Director, Gladstone Center for Translational Advancement, and Professor of Neurology and Pathology, UCSF

4:05 – 4:40    “A Central Role for the Brain’s Barriers in Alzheimer’s Disease”
Andrew Yang, PhD, Assistant Investigator, GIND and Assistant Professor of Neurology and Anatomy, UCSF

4:40 – 5:25    Panel Discussion on the Future of Biomedicine and Translational Neurobiology
Featuring Drs. Hana El-Samad, Li Gan, Stephen Hauser, Peter Kotsonis, and Bruce Miller 

5:25 – 5:40    Closing Remarks by: 

Andy Josephson, MD, Chair and Carmen Castro Franceschi and Gladyne K. Mitchell Neurohospitalist Distinguished Professor, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, UC San Francisco

Deepak Srivastava, MD, President, Gladstone Institutes, and Professor, Department of Pediatrics and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Wilma and Adeline Pirag Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Developmental Cardiology, UCSF School of Medicine

5:40            Adjourn