FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 12th, 2001
CONTACT:
Floyd E. Bloom, M.D.
Founding Chief Executive Officer
(858) 677-0466
NEUROME, INC. ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT
OF NOBEL LAUREATE, DR. PAUL GREENGARD, TO ITS SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY
BOARD
LA JOLLA, CA – Neurome, Inc. announced today the appointment
of Paul Greengard, Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Greengard, Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory
of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at The Rockefeller
University in New York, is a 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physiology
and Medicine, an award recognizing his discovery of the role
and mechanism of dopamine and a number of other neurotransmitters
in the nervous system. Deficiencies in dopamine lead to Parkinson's
disease, and excessive signaling by dopamine can contribute
to schizophrenia.
Dr. Greengard's discoveries provide a conceptual framework
for understanding how the nervous system works at a molecular
level. His research has demonstrated that the effects of therapeutic
and toxic drugs can be explained through distinct neurochemical
actions which affect the transmission of nerve signals in
the brain.
“We are delighted to have Paul Greengard join Tomas
Hökfelt and Leslie Iversen as our founding Scientific
Advisory Board,” said Dr. Floyd Bloom, Neurome's chief
executive officer. “Well before being awarded the Nobel
Prize last year, Dr. Greengard was a recognized leader in
the neuroscience community. He has discovered the kinds of
proteins and other gene products that Neurome hopes to discover,
map and put into perspective with the help of his wisdom.”
Dr. Greengard's research is directed toward understanding
the signal transduction mechanisms that underlie communication
between neurons in health and disease. His current studies
include characterization of the role of the synapsins, the
most abundant brain phosphoproteins, in regulation of neurotransmitter
release and synaptogenesis, determination of the mechanisms
underlying interactions of dopaminergic and other signal transduction
pathways involved in schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and
drug abuse, and elucidation of the mechanisms by which protein
phosphorylation regulates the formation of the b-amyloid responsible
for Alzheimer's disease.
“The Neurome approach to neuroscience, combining first
quality scientific insights with the power of high throughput
data collection and analysis, offers a wonderful opportunity
to advance our understanding of the complexity of brain function
and the causes of brain pathology,” observed Greengard.
“I look forward to participating in Neurome's scientific
advance.”
Dr. Greengard received a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins
University in 1953. After postdoctoral studies in England
at the University of London, Cambridge University, and the
National Institute of Medical Research and the National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, he became Director of Biochemical
Research at the Geigy Research Laboratories in 1959. He was
appointed Professor of Pharmacology at Yale University in
1968 and was named Henry Bronson Professor in 1981. Dr. Greengard
joined The Rockefeller University in 1983.
A sampling of Dr. Greengard's prestigious awards include
the 1999 Elison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award, the
1998 Metropolitan Award for Medical Research, and the 1997
Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health.
Additionally, he is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, a member of the Norwegian Academy of
Science and Letters, an elected member of the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine, and a member
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Neurome, Inc. develops standardized, quantitative databases
that accurately depict and integrate gene expression patterns
in the three-dimensional context of the brain's structures,
circuits and cells, and deploys these databases in primary
research directed toward the discovery and development of
gene targets for enhancement of brain function and treatment
of brain-based disease. Neurome performs contract brain research
for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, while at the
same time pursuing its own in-house and collaborative research
protocols. The data collected from these efforts will populate
an evolving, comprehensive database available by subscription
and useful on a broad level for analyses of mouse models of
brain function and disease. In this regard, the application
of the Neurome technologies will provide rigorous, quantitative
data that are optimally suited to the measurement of subtle
cell-type specific shifts in gene expression, as well as progression
and prevention of degenerative events affecting specific cell
classes and brain regions.
For more information, please contact Neurome, Inc., 11149
North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037-1031.
Telephone: (858) 677-0466; Fax (858) 677-0458; Web site: www.neurome.com. |
