ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center

Fighting alterations in brain health

Millions of people in the United States are affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As our population ages, these diseases become more common and place an increased burden on medical systems and caregivers.

The ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center advances the discovery of disease mechanisms, risk factors, biomarkers, and drugs for the understanding, detection, tracking, treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. The center is a partnership between Banner Health and Arizona State University.

Director

Jeffrey H. Kordower

Jeffrey Kordower employs gene therapy, neural transplantation and the discovery of molecular changes to his research of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. He has led numerous gene and cell therapy preclinical studies that have gone on to clinical trials. Kordower’s findings have included the first demonstration that dopaminergic grafts can survive, innervate and form synapses in patients with Parkinson’s disease, and he and his collaborators were the first to show that long-term grafts in such patients can form Lewy bodies.

Contact

For questions about collaborations and center administration, please contact:

Candace Bejarano

Administrative Specialist

candace.bejarano@asu.edu