Virginia Man-Yee Lee

Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research; John H. Ware 3rd Professor in Alzheimer's Research; Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. My work increased the field of knowledge on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases by demonstrating that tau, alpha-synuclein and TDP-43 (TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kD molecular weight) proteins form unique brain aggregates with central roles in common neurodegenerative diseases, including tau in Alzheimer's disease (AD), alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease (PD), tau and TDP-43 in frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and TDP-43 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Discoveries enabled her to employ new paths toward understanding and potentially treating these prevalent and highly debilitating neurodegenerative disorders. Scientific work includes a number of singular contributions to elucidating the pathogenesis and mechanistic significance of the proteinacious inclusions that are hallmark lesions of AD, PD, FTD and ALS. Most significant work includes elucidating the protein building blocks of AD neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), the Lewy bodies (LBs) of PD, and the ubiquitinated inclusions characteristic of ALS and two major subtypes of FTD (FTD-Tau and FTD-TDP). Significantly, studies implicated the abnormal aggregation of tau alpha-synuclein, and TDP-43 in mechanisms that compromise neuronal viability.