Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive dementing disorder afflicting an estimated 16 million Americans by 2050. The current drug therapies, including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, antioxidants, and memantine, do not block progression of the disease. Recently, the accumulation of evidence demonstrates the level of soluble amyloid is related to synaptic loss in AD. The specific pathological 12-mer, one species of soluble amyloid, was identified in the AD brain (Gong Y. et al, PNAS 2003), and was confirmed in transgenic mouse (Lesne S. et al, Nature 2006). The soluble amyloid from human AD brain shows specific pathological characterization that is different from the artificial soluble amyloid (Meyer-Luehmann M. et al, Science 2006).

We are interested in:

1. Identifying the specific structure and biological activities of natural soluble assemblies of β-amyloid in human AD.
2. Establishing the pathological protein network at the synapse in AD.
3. Exploring the role of aging in these pathological changes with the development of AD.
4. Identifying the common pathogenic mechanism of oligomerization among other natural oligomers including tau, prion protein (PrP), α-synuclein and huntingtin, underlying synaptic dysfunction.
5. Developing effective therapeutics such as natural compounds and immunotherapy to protect synaptic function in neurodegenerative diseases at early stages.

Selected Publications

"The Overview of Studies on Rapamycin-related Molecular Target mTOR Inhibitors and Its Derivatives"
Tang Y, Gong Y, You Q, Xu Y
Chin J Org Chem, 31(7): 1144-1154, 2011.

"Disruption of the postsynaptic density in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative dementias"
Gong Y, Lippa CF
Am J Alzheimer's Dis Other Demen. 25(7):547-55. 2010.

"Disruption of glutamate receptors at Shank-synaptic platform in Alzheimer's Disease"
Gong Y, Lippa CF, Zhu JH, Lin QS, Rosso1 AL.
Brain Res. 1292:191-8, 2009.

"Monoclonal antibodies that target pathological assemblies of Abeta"
Lambert MP, Velasco PT, Chang L, Viola KL, Fernandez S, Lacor PN, Khuon D, Gong Y, Bigio EH, Shaw P, De Felice FG, Krafft GA, Klein WL
J Neurochem, 100(1):23-35, 2007.

"Synaptic targeting by Alzheimer's-related amyloid beta oligomers"
Lacor PN, Buniel MC, Chang L, Fernandez SJ, Gong Y, Viola KL, Lambert MP, Velasco PT, Bigio EH, Finch CE, Krafft GA, Klein WL
J Neurosci, 24(45):10191-200, 2004.

"Alzheimer-affected brain: presence of oligomeric beta-amyloid ligands (ADDLs) provides a molecular basis for reversible memory loss"
Gong Y, Chang L, Viola KL, Lacor PN, Larmbert MP, Krafft GA, Finch CF, Klein WL
Proceedings National Academy of Sciences (USA), 100(18):10417-22, 2003.

"Effect of 17-β-estradiol and total ginsenoside on the spatial learning and memory impairment of ovariectomized rats"
Chan J, Gong YS, Zhang JT
Chinese Pharmaceutical Journal, 36(8)519-522, 2001.