October 19, 2020
Shane Liddelow to present Anatomy and Physiology Seminar
Shane Liddelow, assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology and the Department of Ophthalmology at the Neuroscience Institute of New York University's Langone Health, will present "What do reactive astrocytes (really) do?" His presentation will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, by Zoom, passcode: A&P.
Liddelow gained his Bachelor of Science with honors and biomedical science from the University of Melbourne, Australia, majoring in neuroscience and anatomy and cell biology. He received his doctorate with Katarzyna Dziegielewska and Norman Saunders in pharmacology, also from the University of Melbourne. As a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ben Barres at Stanford University, his research focused on astrocytes. He discovered a close association between astrocytes, microglia and abnormal neuron function. His research showed that one form of reactive astrocyte is induced by factors released by microglia. These reactive astrocytes release a toxic factor that kills specific subtypes of neurons and are present in brains of patients with multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Liddelow was a recipient of the NHMRC (Australia) CJ Martin Training Award, 2012-2016; the Glenn Foundation Award for Aging in 2016; and was named a STATNews Wunderkind in 2017. In 2019 the Alzheimer's Association awarded him the Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award for Alzheimer's Research for the most impactful study published in Alzheimer's research during the previous two calendar years. In 2020, he was awarded the David Hague Early Career Investigator of the Year Award by Alzheimer's Research UK. He sits on the editorial board of Cell Reports, and Glia, and is a founder of Astronautx Ltd., a London-based biotech developing drugs to treat dementia.,