- Virginia M.-Y. Lee
Virginia M.-Y. Lee’s research interest focuses on tau, alpha-synuclein and amyloid beta precursor protein (APP), and their roles in the pathobiology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and frontotemporal dementias (FTD). In particular, Dr. Lee wants to determine the pathogenesis of senile plaques, Lewy bodies and neurofibrillary tangles because these are major lesions found in the brains of AD patients and other neurodegenerative diseases. Information obtained from this research program may shed light on how neurons degenerate in AD and PD and lead to a better understanding of the etiology of these diseases. A multi-disciplinary approach (including biochemical and molecular studies of neuronal culture systems, animal models and human tissues obtained at autopsy) is used in the laboratory to address these research issues in common with these neurodegenerative diseases. Other research efforts focus on an increased understanding of the normal functions of tau, synuclein, and APP. Dr. Lee is involved in collaborative initiatives to advance drug discovery in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Virginia M.-Y. Lee studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1962-1964), obtained a M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of London (1968), and received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California at San Francisco in 1973. She pursued postdoctoral studies in pharmacology at the Rudolf Magnus Institute at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands (1973-1974) and in experimental neuropathology at Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston (1974-1979) after which she assumed the position of Associate Senior Research Investigator at Smith-Kline & French, Incorporated in Philadelphia from 1979-1980.
Dr. Lee joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1981, where she rose to the rank of Professor in 1989. While a Penn faculty member, Dr. Lee entered the Executive M.B.A. program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1982-1984) and obtained her M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School in 1984. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) and related neurodegenerative disorders of aging.
She is the author of over 450 papers since 1970, including over 300 papers on AD, PD, FTDs and other age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Lee’s research has been recognized by a number of awards including:
* MERIT (Method to Extend Research In Time) Award (1986-1994) * Senator Jacob Javits Award (1988-1985), National Institutes of Health (NIH) * Allied Signal Award for Aging Research (1992) * Metropolitan Life Foundation Promising Investigator Award For Alzheimer’s Disease Research (1991) * Metropolitan Life Foundation Award For Alzheimer’s Disease Research (1996) * Zenith Award grant (1991); Pioneer Award grant (1998); Temple Award grant (2001), The Alzheimer’s
Association * Potamkin Award for Research on Alzheimer’s, Pick’s and Related Neurodegenerative Disorders (1998) * Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Biomedical Research Grant in Neuroscience Research (2003) * Founders Distinguished Scholars Award from the American Association of University Women (2004)Dr. Lee was named the first recipient of the John H. Ware 3rd Chair for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, and she has served and continues to serve on a number of grant review committees, including NIH Study Sections and foundation review committees, such as the American Health Assistance Foundation. In 2004 Dr. Lee became a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NIH).
Thus, research advances that have emerged from Dr. Lee’s work over the past 15 years have enhanced prospects for the discovery of new and better therapies for AD, PD, FTDs and other neurodegenerative disorders caused by abnormal filamentous aggregates of brain proteins, and Dr. Lee continues to make seminal contributions to understanding mechanisms underlying these disorders.
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