jorge.palop@gladstone.ucsf.edu

Jorge Palop’s lab aims to understand the neural processes underlying cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and neurological conditions such as epilepsy, autism, and schizophrenia. His team focuses on a type of neuron that stabilizes neuronal networks in the brain, called inhibitory interneurons, and the role they may play in the cognitive dysfunction and abnormal patterns of neuronal network activity that accompany Alzheimer’s. Ultimately, Palop’s group aims to define the mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction at the molecular, circuit, and network level, as well as to develop novel therapeutic approaches to restore brain functions in Alzheimer’s.

Disease Areas

Alzheimer’s Disease

Epilepsy

Dravet Syndrome

Autism

Schizophrenia

Areas of Expertise

Animal Models

Cell-based Therapies

Optogenetics

Electrophysiology

Molecular Pharmacology

Genetic Manipulations

Lab Focus

Investigating mechanisms of network hypersynchronization in Alzheimer’s disease and testing novel therapies to prevent such deficits.

Understanding the role of inhibitory interneurons and oscillatory brain rhythms in cognitive functions in health and a variety of neurological diseases.

Investigating the potential of inhibitory interneurons as a therapeutic target in Alzheimer’s and tailoring approaches based on cell transplants to different disease conditions.

Research Impact

Palop discovered that mice genetically engineered to simulate Alzheimer's disease (by producing excess beta-amyloid protein) develop aberrant patterns of neuronal network activity, including abnormal synchronisation and seizures. These patterns resemble the epileptic symptoms observed in many patients with early-onset familial Alzheimer’s, the hyperactivation of neuronal networks detected in patients with sporadic Alzheimer’s, and in non-demented people who carry amyloid deposits.

Palop and his team found that in Alzheimer’s mouse models, these symptoms could be attributed to the alteration of inhibitory interneurons. Importantly, they showed that by supplying genetically modified interneurons in the brain of Alzheimer’s mice, or by chemically enhancing the function of resident interneurons, they could restore the cognitive functions and brain oscillatory rhythms in these mice. The findings pave the way for therapeutic interventions targeting the function of inhibitory interneurons, which the lab is currently pursuing through a combination of cell-based and pharmacological approaches.

Professional Titles

Associate Investigator, Gladstone Institutes

Assistant Professor of Neurology, UC San Francisco

Bio

Jorge J. Palop is an assistant investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. He is also an assistant professor of neurology at UC San Francisco (UCSF).

Palop has received numerous competitive honors and awards, including predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, the Fulbright program, the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging and Memory and Aging Center at UCSF, as well as the Ramon y Cajal and the S.D. Bechtel Young Investigator Awards. He has published his findings and reviews in many prestigious scientific journals, including Cell, Nature, Science, Nature Medicine, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, and The Journal of Neuroscience.

He regularly serves as a scientific reviewer for many of these journals and other organizations. He is a reviewing editor of eNeuro, the open-access online journal of the Society of Neuroscience. Palop earned a PhD in neuroscience (summa cum laude) from the University of Valencia, Spain. He did his postdoctoral training at UCSF and in the laboratory of Lennart Mucke, at Gladstone.

Why Are You Dedicated to Discovery?

“I’m fascinated by the biological processes that underlie cognition; I think that understanding those processes at the cellular and network level will lead to real breakthroughs in how we treat cognitive decline in neurological diseases.”

Jorge Palop, PhD