FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON March 20, 2019
Missouri Researcher Awarded $100,000 Potamkin Prize for Dementia Research
MINNEAPOLIS -
The and the American Brain Foundation are awarding a Missouri researcher the 2019 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick鈥檚, Alzheimer鈥檚 and Related Diseases for his work in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease research. Randall J. Bateman, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., and a member of the 好色先生, will be presented the award at the 好色先生鈥檚 71st Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, May 4-10, 2019. Bateman will be recognized during the Potamkin Prize Panel Presentation held on Monday, May 6, at 3:30 p.m. Past winners of the Potamkin Prize will also be present and give updates on their research. Sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize of Alzheimer鈥檚 research, the Potamkin Prize honors researchers for their work in helping to advance the understanding of Pick鈥檚 disease, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and related disorders. The $100,000 prize is an internationally recognized tribute for advancing dementia research. Bateman, who was a 2004 recipient of the AAN Clinical Research Training Fellowship, is receiving the award for his research in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. His contributions to understanding the disease include developing a new method to determine how effectively amyloid beta is cleared from the brain. Amyloid beta is a sticky protein that can accumulate and turn into amyloid plaques in the brain, leading to dementia. Bateman found the process of clearing it from the brain is impaired in people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. He is also leading studies of people with an inherited form of the disease and has shown a relationship between brain lesion development and symptom development 15 to 20 years later. Bateman also created a blood test that can detect Alzheimer鈥檚 disease in its earliest stages by measuring levels of amyloid beta. Bateman says the blood test can detect amyloid up to 20 years before a person develops Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. While it is still being researched, a blood test for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease would be less expensive and easier to administer than the current methods of detecting amyloid beta, a PET scan of the brain or a spinal tap to detect amyloid in the spinal fluid. 鈥淎 simple blood test could someday enable testing for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease for the world鈥檚 population,鈥 said Bateman. 鈥淲hen effective treatments and preventions are developed, it will have enormous impacts on the lives of families, medical systems and society as a whole.鈥 When asked about receiving the Potamkin Prize, Bateman said, 鈥淚 am honored and humbled to join the elite group of Potamkin Prize winners and I hope our work inspires other researchers as they strive to make big impacts in dementia research.鈥 The Potamkin Prize is made possible by the philanthropic contributions of the Potamkin family of New York, Philadelphia and Miami. The goal of the prize is to help attract the best medical minds and most dedicated scientists in the world to the field of dementia research. The Potamkin family has been the Academy鈥檚 single largest individual donor since 1988, providing more than $2 million to fund the Potamkin Prize. Learn more about dementia at BrainandLife.org, home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The American Brain Foundation brings researchers and donors together to cure brain diseases and disorders. Learn more at www.AmericanBrainFoundation.org.