Brian J. Bacskai , Ph.D.

Associate Professor in Neurology

Massachusetts General Hospital - East
CNY 114-2010
114 16th Street
Charlestown, MA 02129
Telephone: 617-724-5306
Fax: 617- 724-1480
Email: bbacskai@partners.org
Lab Website: The Bacskai Lab

Dr. Bacskai's laboratory uses sophisticated optical techniques to address fundamental questions in Alzheimer's disease research. Using the imaging technique multiphoton microscopy, the senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease can be detected in the brains of living transgenic mice, and characterized with chronic imaging. By multiplexing with other structural and functional fluorescent probes, we can examine specific cellular responses to disease progression in vivo as well. This detection platform was used to characterize a therapeutic approach to clearing the senile plaques based on immunotherapy, as well as to characterize movel amyloid-targeting ligands in preclinical development for PET imaging in humans. Current research is aimed at optimizing anti-amyloid-ß therapeutic approaches, and imaging the anatomy and physiology of specific cell types in the brain before and after treatment. Development of novel optical techniques is ongoing, and includes methods to measure protein-protein interactions using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), and non-invasive approaches to amyloid imaging in intact animals based on NIR fluorescence diffuse optical tomography.

References:

• Garcia-Alloza M, Borrelli LA, Rozkalne A, Hyman BT, Bacskai BJ (2007) Curcumin labels amyloid pathology in vivo, disrupts existing plaques, and partially restores neurites in an Alzheimer mouse model. J. Neurochem.
• Jones PB, Herl L, Berezovska O, Kumar AT, Bacskai BJ, Hyman BT (2006) Time-domain fluorescent plate reader for cell based protein-protein interaction and protein conformation assays. J. Biolmed Opt. 11(5):054024.
• Spires TL, Meyer-Luehmann M, Stern EA, McLean PJ, Skoch J, Nguyen PT, Bacskai BJ, Hyman BT (2005) Dendritic spine abnormalities in amyloid precursor protein transgenic mice demonstrated by gene transfer and intravital multiphoton microscopy. J. Neurosci 25(31):7278-87.

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