Gladstone Director Honored with ALS Commitment to Cure Award

Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD, a director at the Gladstone Institutes, was presented with the 2017 Commitment to a Cure Award from the ALS Association Golden West Chapter. He was selected based on his visionary research on neurodegenerative diseases, his breakthrough innovations, and his passionate commitment to the ALS community.

Finkbeiner works to understand how neurons in the brain degenerate and lead to disease. To do so, he uses his invention—a powerful robotic microscope that can give single brain cells a “physical exam” and evaluate their “health” based on a range of unique factors. Using this tool, he and his team are learning more about debilitating neurological conditions, such as ALS, Huntington’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

As a member of the California ALS Research Network, Finkbeiner joins a group of volunteer scientists, clinicians, biotech companies, and ALS advocates committed to developing treatments for the disease. He is also an investigator of the Neuro Collaborative, a partnership across three California laboratories that seeks effective treatments and a cure for ALS.

Finkbeiner also serves as director of the Taube/Koret Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research and a senior investigator of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone. In addition, he is a professor of neurology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.