MS&E Seminar: Professor David B. Teplow

Speaker: David B. Teplow, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Taking Advantage of Mother Nature: How Studies of Human Disease Inform the Creation of Designer Nanomaterials

A large number of fatal human diseases are caused by the polymerization of protein monomers into cytotoxic assemblies. These assemblies exist in a bewildering variety of forms, from simple protein dimers, to linear and circular oligomeric structures, to μm-long filaments. These protein filaments are extraordinarily stable, strong, and highly resistant to denaturation. These characteristics are responsible for the propagation of a number of fatal human diseases termed “amyloidoses,” which include Alzheimer’s disease and Mad Cow disease. Amyloidoses originally were thought to be diseases unique to humans. However, continuing research has revealed that amyloids, the damaging polymers that cause disease, form in a great variety of organisms, including those as simple as fungi and bacteria, and that these amyloids serve important normal physiologic functions. In this seminar, I will introduce listeners to the “world of amyloid,” discussing its long history, involvement in human disease, study by biochemists and biophysicists, and novel uses in diverse areas of mate-rials science and engineering.

About the Speaker

Dr. Teplow is a Professor of Neurology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Director, UCLA Biopolymer Laboratory; and a member of the faculties of the Molecular Biology Institute, Brain Research Institute, Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program, and various neuroscience graduate programs. Dr. Teplow received degrees in Biochemistry, and in Bacteriology & Immunology, from UC Berkeley; and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle. He did postdoctoral work at Caltech before joining the faculty of the Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Dr. Teplow received the 2003 Turken Lectureship in Alzheimer’s Disease at UCLA and the 2010 Graduate Teaching Award from the Department of Neurology. Dr. Teplow has published ~200 peer-reviewed articles, including ~150 original articles and ~50 reviews, book chapters, and commentaries. Dr. Teplow was a founding editor of the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience and Current Chemical Biology. He currently is Associate Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease. Dr. Teplow is a member of numerous national and international scientific advisory and editorial boards. Dr. Teplow has been recognized as one of the top 100 Alzheimer’s disease researchers in the world.

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Dec 08, 2017
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Location:
2101 Engineering V
420 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles CA 90095