Consortium for Frontotemporal Dementia Research

The Consortium for Frontotemporal Dementia Research (CFR) is a UCSF-based consortium established to accelerate research of FTD. Initial funding for the CFR comes from private donations. The CFR was created to combine the power of this funding with collaborative science by the best minds in the field to find a cure for FTD related to progranulin mutations within 10 years.

• Giovanni Coppola, MD and Dan Geschwind, MD, PhD are working on the genetic basis of FTD-GRN (FTD from a mutation in the GRN gene). They are using the gene expression profile of progranulin mutations and stem cells to characterize potential disease biomarkers, pathophysiology and modifiers. Read More [1]
• Bob Farese, MD is developing a mouse model of progranulin deficiency to test progranulin regulation and influence on phosphorylation and aggregation of other proteins. Read More [2]
• Steve Finkbeiner, MD, PhD focuses on molecular mechanisms of plasticity and neurodegeneration, and particularly, how an inherited genetic mutation leads to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration. He is leading siRNA approaches for the CFR. Read More [3]
• Li Gan, PhD studies key factors produced in neuronal and glial cells that contribute to the degenerative processes in FTD and possible means to interrupt those degenerative processes. She is studying progranulin pathways related to inflammation. Read More [4]
• Fen- Biao Gao, PhD focuses on the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and identification of new therapeutic targets for early prevention of FTD. He studies dendritic sprouting in relationship to progranulin deficiency. Read More [5]
• Joachim Herz, MD and Gang Yu, PhD explore the identification and characterization of progranulin receptors in vitro and in vivo by selectively and specifically altering relevant genes and developing new screening components. Read More [6]
• Eric Huang, MD, PhD is characterizing progranulin expression and processing in mouse and human neurons to determine if progranulin and granulins function as pro-survival trophic factors. Dr. Huang is mapping progranulin sites within the brain. Read More [7]
• Aimee Kao, MD, PhD uses C. elegans to better understand, at a molecular level, how the loss of progranulin affects neuronal health and viability. The pathways and molecules required for progranulin action could ultimately serve as additional targets for therapeutic manipulation in order to prevent or cure FTLD. Read More [8]
• Bruce Miller, MD is developing a cohort of familial and sporadic FTD cases and cell lines for longitudinal clinical, imaging, mRNA expression and proteomics studies. Read More [9]
• Rosa Rademakers, PhD is focused on the identification of genes regulating progranulin expression and processing with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets.
• William Seeley, MD provides a tissue banking protocol and research database that supports quantitative and region-specific cellular, molecular and genetic FTD investigations. Read More [10]
• Lennart Mucke, MD studies processes that result in memory loss and other major neurological deficits to advance rational strategies to prevent and cure FTD. Read More [11]
• Erik Roberson, MD, PhD is working to determine if neuronal and/or microglial progranulin insufficiency causes behavioral deficits in mice and how these deficits can be altered. Read More [12]
• Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD studies specific patterns of plasma signaling proteins that characterize FTD and how these proteins may characterize disease progression. Read More [13]