Prof. William L. Klein Northwestern University, USA

Dr. William L. Klein is Professor of Neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University. He is a member of the university’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center and formerly was director of Northwestern’s interdepartmental neuroscience program. Dr. Klein received his PhD at UCLA and postdoctoral training... read moreat NIH, working with Nobel Prize-winners Paul Boyer and Marshall Nirenberg. For two decades, Dr. Klein’s research team has addressed the problem of Alzheimer’s disease, investigating the nature of molecules in AD brain that could cause dementia, their mechanism of action, and their potential as targets for diagnosis and treatment. In 1998, his team reported discovery of a new type of synaptotoxin comprising soluble oligomers of the amyloid beta peptide (Aβ, which led them to introduce the oligomer cascade hypothesis for Alzheimer’s dementia. The impact of Aβ oligomers on synapses is now widely regarded as accounting for the devastating memory loss that begins early in the disease. Dr. Klein’s research into Aβ oligomers has been recognized by a Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association. Clinical applications of Dr. Klein’s work, including development of oligomer-specific therapeutic antibodies, have been patented by Northwestern University and licensed by Acumen Pharmaceuticals, an Alzheimer’s biotech he co-founded. Major goals of his laboratory are to understand the buildup and role of AβOs in dementia, to develop treatments that maintain healthy brain function, and to develop probes that image brain oligomers for early Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Details of Dr. Klein’s research program and its impact can be found at www.kleinlab.org.