Michel Goedert
{{Short description|Luxembourgish-British neuroscientist}}
Michel Goedert FRS, FMedSci is a Luxembourgish-British neuroscientist and former Head of Neurobiology, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.{{cite web|url=http://www.alzforum.org/com/res/detail.asp?id=%7B66A82D5A-AB9D-469D-8AA3-638758FC55AA%7D|title=Michel Goedert|publisher=Alzforum|date=19 October 2008|accessdate=20 December 2019}}
Goedert was born and raised in Luxembourg. After finishing his medical studies at the University of Basel in 1986, he started working at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology affiliated with the University of Cambridge.
Goedert was awarded the Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease in 1996, the Potamkin Prize in 1998 and the European Grand Prix for Research by the Foundation for Research on Alzheimer's disease in 2014. In 2018 he was one of four recipients of the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize with the citation "For their groundbreaking research on the genetic and molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease, with far-reaching implications for the development of new therapeutic interventions as well as for the understanding of other neurodegenerative diseases of the brain".{{cite web|url=https://www.lundbeckfonden.com/en/thebrainprize/winners/|title=The Brain Prize Winners 2018 - Lundbeckfonden - The Brain Prize|website=www.thebrainprize.org|accessdate=20 December 2019}} In 2019 he received the Royal Medal.[https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/royal-medal/ Royal Medal 2019] and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation prize for outstanding innovation in neurodegenerative disorder research.[https://tauconsortium.org/initiative/rainwater-prize/ The Rainwater Prize Program]
He is married to Maria Grazia Spillantini, a geneticist with whom he has one son, Thomas.
Research
Goedert's work combines biochemical, molecular biological and structural techniques to investigate common neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.{{cite web|url=https://www.lundbeckfonden.com/en/person/michel-goedert/|title=Biography Michel Goedert - Lundbeckfonden - The Brain Prize|website=www.thebrainprize.org|accessdate=20 December 2019}} His research focused on the abnormal filamentous inclusions that characterise Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, showing that the intracellular filaments of these diseases are made of either alpha-synuclein or tau protein.{{cite web|url=https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/a-to-g/michel-goedert/|title=Michel Goedert|author=Avenue, Francis Crick|website=MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology|accessdate=20 December 2019}} Goedert's team identified mutations in MAPT, the tau gene, that cause rare inherited forms of frontotemporal dementia with tau inclusions, establishing a central role for tau assembly in the disease.{{cite news|date=24 March 2018|accessdate=20 December 2019|url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/winner-of-brain-prize-2018-prof-michel-goedert-on-our-best-hope-for-tackling-alzheimer-s-disease-9052890/|title=Winner of Brain Prize 2018, Prof Michel Goedert, on our best hope for tackling Alzheimer's disease|work=Cambridge Independent|author=Paul Brackley}}
Works
- {{cite book|chapter=Neurodegenerative α-Synucleinopathies|title=Atypical Parkinsonian disorders: clinical and research aspects|editor=Irene Litvan|publisher=Springer|page=77|year=2005|isbn=978-1-58829-331-2}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?migo Dr Michel Goedert]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120407073817/http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-pr-michel-goedert-la-protine-tau-6238343.html ]
- http://www.prion2014.org/images/bio_Goedert.pdf
{{FRS 2000}}
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Category:British neuroscientists
Category:University of Basel alumni
Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)
Category:Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg