Mathias Jucker (born 7 July 1961 in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
) is a Swiss
neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...
, Professor, and a Director at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research of the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
. He is also a group leader at the
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
: Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, (DZNE)) in
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
. Jucker is known for his research on the basic biologic mechanisms underlying
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
aging
Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
and
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...
.
Education and career
Jucker received his doctoral degree (1988) in Natural Sciences from
ETH Zürich
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, ac ...
, after which he began his research on aging in the brain at the
National Institute on Aging
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...
(NIA) in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and then at the
University of Basel
The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...
(Switzerland).
In 2003 he became Full Professor of Cell Biology of Neurological Diseases at the University of Tübingen. In 2009 he was named a group leader at the DZNE in Tübingen, and in 2012 he became the founding coordinator of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Disease Network (DIAN)
in Germany.
Research
Prion-like properties of disease-causing proteins
Jucker’s research has focused on understanding how certain
proteins
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
cause disease by adopting abnormal 3-dimensional shapes (
conformations) in the
nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...
. In collaboration with
Lary Walker
Lary Walker is an American neuroscientist and researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is Associate Director of the Roberto Goizueta, Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Emory, and he is known for his research on the ro ...
, Jucker was the first to show in experimental mice that the accumulation of abnormally folded proteins in Alzheimer’s disease occurs by a
prion
Prions are misfolded proteins that have the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It ...
-like mechanism.
The prion concept has since been expanded to include several other proteins, including
tau
Tau (uppercase Τ, lowercase τ, or \boldsymbol\tau; el, ταυ ) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300.
The name in English ...
and
α-synuclein
Alpha-synuclein is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''SNCA'' gene. Alpha-synuclein is a neuronal protein that regulates synaptic vesicle trafficking and subsequent neurotransmitter release.
It is abundant in the brain, while smaller a ...
, which similarly misfold and aggregate in a class of diseases known as
proteopathies
In medicine, proteinopathy (; 'pref''. protein -pathy 'suff''. disease proteinopathies ''pl''.; proteinopathic ''adj''), or proteopathy, protein conformational disorder, or protein misfolding disease refers to a class of diseases in which ...
.
Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease
Jucker also has contributed to the development and validation of
biomarkers
In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...
for Alzheimer’s disease and other
neurodegenerative
A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...
disorders. He found that changes in
cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates.
CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...
(CSF) biomarkers in mouse models closely resemble the changes in humans with Alzheimer’s disease, and he and his colleagues showed that a protein in
neurons
A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...
known as
neurofilament
Neurofilaments (NF) are classed as type IV intermediate filaments found in the cytoplasm of neurons. They are protein polymers measuring 10 nm in diameter and many micrometers in length. Together with microtubules (~25 nm) and mi ...
light chain can serve as a biomarker in the
blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
and cerebrospinal fluid that can be used to determine the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Awards
Jucker has received the Research Prize of the Swiss Alzheimer Association (2001),
the Zenith Fellows Award of the
Alzheimer's Association
The Alzheimer's Association was founded by Jerome H. Stone with the help of several family members in Chicago, Illinois, and incorporated on April 10, 1980, as the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association, Inc. It is a non-profit Ame ...
(2006),
the Soriano Lectureship of the
American Neurological Association
The American Neurological Association (ANA) is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic ...
(2010),
the Hamburg Science Award for dementia research
from the
Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg
The Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg (German: Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg) is a German scientific society located in Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Centr ...
(2013), the
(2014),
and the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) (2020).
Bibliography
Selected research publications
*“Cerebral hemorrhage following anti-Aß-immunotherapy”. Pfeifer M, Boncristiano S, Bondolfi L, Stalder A, Deller T, Staufenbiel M, Mathews P, Jucker M (2002). ''Science'' 298: 1379. doi: 10.1126/science.1078259; .
*“Aß is targeted to the vasculature in a mouse model of hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis”. Herzig MC, Winkler DT, Burgermeister P, Pfeifer M, Kohler E, Schmidt SD, Danner S, Abramowski D, Stürchler-Pierrat C, Bürki K, van Duinen SG, Maat-Schieman MLC, Staufenbiel M, Mathews PM, Jucker M (2004). ''Nature Neuroscience'' 7: 954-60. doi: 10.1038/nn1302; .
*“Exogenous induction of Aβ-amyloidogenesis is governed by intrinsic properties of agent and host”. Meyer-Luehmann M, Coomaraswamy J, Bolmont T, Kaeser S, Schaefer C, Kilger E, Neuenschwander A, Abramowski D, Frey P, Jaton AL, Vigouret J, Paganetti P, Walsh DM, Mathews P, Ghiso J, Staufenbiel M, Walker L, Jucker M (2006). ''Science'' 313: 1781-1784. doi: 10.1126/science.1131864; .
*“Formation and maintenance of Alzheimer’s disease β-amyloid plaques in the absence of microglia”. Grathwohl SA, Kälin RE, Bolmont T, Prokop S, Winkelmann G, Kaeser SA, Odenthal J, Radde R, Eldh T, Gandy S, Aguzzi A, Staufenbiel M, Mathews PM, Wolburg H, Heppner FL, Jucker M (2009). ''Nature Neuroscience'' 12: 1358-1360. doi: 10.1038/nn.2432; .
*“Peripherally applied Aß-containing inoculates induce cerebral β-amyloidosis”. Eisele YS, Obermueller U, Heilbronner G, Baumann F, Kaeser SA, Wolburg H, Walker LC, Staufenbiel M, Heikenwalder M, Jucker M (2010). ''Science'' 330: 980-982. doi: 10.1126/science.1194516; .
*“The benefits and limitations of animal models for translational research in neurodegenerative diseases”. Jucker M (2010) ''Nature Medicine'' 16: 1210-1214. doi: 10.1038/nm.2224; .
*“The amyloid state of proteins in human diseases”. Eisenberg D, Jucker M (2012). ''Cell'' 148: 1188-1203. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.02.022; .
*“Changes in amyloid-β and Tau in the cerebrospinal fluid of transgenic mice overexpressing amyloid precursor protein”. Maia LF, Kaeser SA, Reichwald J, Hruscha M, Martus P, Staufenbiel M, Jucker M (2013). ''Science Translational Medicine'' 5, 194re2 (2013). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3006446; .
*“Self-propagation of pathogenic protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases”. Jucker M, Walker LC (2013). ''Nature'' 501: 45-51. doi: 10.1038/nature12481; .
*“Persistence of Aß seeds in APP-null mouse brain”. Ye L, Fritschi SK, Schelle J, Obermüller U, Degenhardt K, Kaeser SA, Eisele YS, Walker LC, Baumann F, Staufenbiel M, Jucker M (2015). ''Nature Neuroscience'' 18: 1559-1561. doi: 10.1038/nn.4117; .
*“Neurofilament light chain in blood and CSF as marker of disease progression in mouse models and in neurodegenerative diseases”. Bacioglu M, Maia LF, Preische O, Schelle J, Apel A, Kaeser SA, Schweighauser M, Eninger T, Lambert M, Pilotto A, Shimshek D, Neumann U, Kahle PJ, Staufenbiel M, Neumann M, Maetzler W, Kuhle J, Jucker M (2016). ''Neuron'' 91: 56-66. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.05.018; .
*“Microglia turnover with aging and in an Alzheimer´s model via long-term in vivo single-cell imaging”. Füger P, Hefendehl JK, Veeraraghavalu K, Schlosser C, Wendeln A-C, Obermüller U, Wegenast-Braun BM, Neher JJ, Martus P, Kohsaka S, Thunemann M, Feil R, Sisodia SS, Skodras A, Jucker M (2017). ''Nature Neuroscience'' 20:1371-1376. doi: 10.1038/nn.4631; .
*“Propagation and spread of pathogenic protein assemblies in neurodegenerative diseases”. Jucker M, Walker LC (2018). ''Nature Neuroscience'' 21: 1341-1349. doi: 10.1038/s41593-018-0238-6; .
*“Serum neurofilament dynamics predicts neurodegeneration and clinical progression in presymptomatic Alzheimer´s disease”. Preische O, Schultz S, Apel A, Kuhle J, Kaeser SA, Barro C, Gräber S, Kuder-Buletta E, LaFougere C, Laske C, Vöglein J, Levin J, Masters CL, Martins R, Schofield PR,
Rossor MN, Graff-Radford NR, Salloway S, Ghetti B, Ringman JM, Noble JM, Chhatwal J, Goate AM, Benzinger TLS, Morris JC, Bateman RJ, Wang G, Fagan AM, McDade EM, Gordon BA, Jucker M, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (2019). ''Nature Medicine'' 25: 277-283. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0304-3; .
Complete List of Published Work: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C11&q=mathias+jucker&oq=mathias
Books
*''Alzheimer: 100 Years and Beyond'' (2006); M. Jucker, K. Beyreuther, C. Haass, R.M. Nitsch, Y. Christen, Eds.
*''Proteopathic Seeds and Neurodegenerative Diseases'' (2013); M. Jucker, Y. Christen, Eds.
References
External links
The red-hot debate about transmissible Alzheimer’sTransmissible Alzheimer´s theory gains traction
* ttps://www.zeit.de/2012/03/Alzheimer-Entstehung Die Saat des Vergessens (Article on protein seeding in Alzheimer's disease)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jucker, Mathias
Living people
ETH Zurich alumni
Medical researchers
Alzheimer's disease researchers
Academic staff of the University of Tübingen
1961 births