Senate
The Senate of DZNE is an advisory body composed by world leading scientists. The Senate reviews the scientific plan and the yearly progress of DZNE. Members of the Senate are appointed by the DZNE Council for a term of three years. The Senate meets at least twice a year and provides recommendations to the Executive Board and Council on all significant scientific and programme-related DZNE issues.
Members of the Senate
Prof. Adriano Aguzzi
Since late 1995, Adriano Aguzzi has been director of Switzerland's Nationales Referenzzentrums für Prionerkrankungen (Reference Centre for Prion Diseases) and as of 1997 has been director and senior professor at the Institute for Neuropathology at the University of Zurich. Adriano Aguzzi studied Medicine at Freiburg and Basel, working at the Boehringer Ingelheim-sponsored Research Institute of Molecular Pathology.
Through his research, Adriano Aguzzi was able to provide greater insight into the role of the immune system in the propagation of prions, identifying potential new therapies.
Prof. Nicolas Bazan
Nicolas Bazan is the director and founder of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, USA (1987-). He also leads the LSUHSC Translational Research Initiative. He obtained his MD at the University of Tucuman, Argentina, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, N.Y. and Harvard Medical School. Earlier he also established the Institute of Biochemistry and the Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Biology at the University of the South, Argentina. He studies lipid signaling in neurodegenerations and has discovered neuroprotectin D1, a stereoselective, homeostatic mediator that arrests apoptosis in retinal cells. NPD1 is anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective in stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease models.
Prof. Johannes Dichgans
Johannes Dichgans is the Chairman of the DZNE senate and an emeritus professor at the Centre for Neurology of the University of Tübingen. He is a member of the board of trustees at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, occupying the role of director between 2001 and 2005. After studying Medicine at Freiburg and Munich, he gained habilitation in Freiburg, subsequently moving to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. Following his return to Germany, he was appointed director of the Centre for Neurology at the University of Tübingen. Prof. Dichgans' research initially focused on motion perception and spatial orientation. He later concentrated on examining the fundamental causes of cerebellar disease and neuronal degeneration.
Prof. Hannah Monyer
Hannah Monyer has been Medical Director of the Department for Clinical Neurobiology at the University of Heidelberg since 1999. She studied medicine in Heidelberg, completing her doctorate in 1982. Following a period of research at Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA, she returned to Heidelberg in 1989 to take up a post at the Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie.
Prof. Monyer's investigations focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying the onset and modulation of neuronal network activity. Her research targets the identification of key molecules which play a significant role in physical and neurological disorders.
Prof. Lennart Mucke
Since 1996, Lennart Mucke has been director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco, USA. He is also professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of California. After studying Medicine at the University of Göttingen, he completed his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. He has held research posts at institutions in the United States, including Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida.
Lennart Mucke's area of investigation concentrates on the processes which lead to memory loss or other severe neurological deficiencies, specifically focusing on Alzheimer's disease and other related neurodegenerative disorders.
Prof. Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is the Director for External Alliances and Development, R&D China at GlaxoSmithKline, a position she has held since May 2010. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Warwick and received her PhD in Developmental Biology. She has also served as a Visiting Professor at the “Centre for Neuroscience” of the Imperial College London since October 2008. In the past, she has held the positions of Director for Synaptic Plasticity and Neuronal Network Dynamics and Director for Neurodegeneration at GlaxoSmithKline.
Prof. Kristine Yaffe
Kristine Yaffe is a professor of psychiatry, neurology, epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As Director of the UCSF Dementia Epidemiology Research Group, she is responsible for research relating to cognitive function and dementia in ageing populations throughout the United States. In addition to this, she is the principal investigator of the data core for the Alzheimer’s disease Research Center at UCSF. Kristine Yaffe currently holds several NIH, DOD and foundation grants.
Guest Members
Bärbel Brumme-Bothe
Since March 15th, 2010 Bärbel Brumme-Bothe has been Head of the Directorate-General "Life Sciences – Research for Health" at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as Chairperson of DZNE's Council.
Prof. Jürgen Mlynek
Jürgen Mlynek has been president of the Helmholtz Association since 2005. He studied Physics in Hanover and Paris, before being offered a full professorship in 1990 in Experimental Physics at the University of Konstanz. Between 1996 and 2001, he was vice-president of the German Research Foundation, and was president of the Humboldt University in Berlin from 2000 to 2005.
The Federal Minister, Annette Schavan, commissioned Jürgen Mlynek to assemble a founding commission for a national centre for neurodegenerative diseases. This project gave rise to the DZNE, the 16th research facility of the Helmholtz Association.
Prof. Otmar Wiestler
Otmar Wiestler is a member of the founding commission of the DZNE. He is Chairman and Scientific Director of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. After studying Medicine at Freiburg, Otmar Wiestler took up a research role at the University of California in San Diego. Prior to moving to the German Cancer Research Centre, he was head of both the University Hospital of Bonn Department of Neuropathology and the German Brain Tumour Centre, as well as being medical director at LIFE & BRAIN GmbH.