Alison Goate facts for kids

Alison Mary Goate is a leading scientist who studies how our genes affect brain diseases. She is a professor and head of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She also directs the Loeb Center for Alzheimer's Disease there. Before this, she was a professor at Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Goate's laboratory focuses on understanding the genetics of brain conditions. They study diseases like Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Their goal is to find out how genes play a role in these conditions.

Education and Early Discoveries

Alison Goate started her science journey in the United Kingdom. She earned her first degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol. Later, she completed her advanced studies at Oxford University.

After her studies, Dr. Goate worked with important professors like Theodore Puck and John Hardy. She received a special research grant from the Royal Society. This allowed her to do research at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London.

Awards and Recognitions

Dr. Goate has received many important awards for her work. In 1993, she was given the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology. She also received the Zenith Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alzheimer's Association.

Other honors include the Senior Investigator Award from the Metropolitan Life Foundation. She also received the St. Louis Academy of Science Innovation Award. In 1994, she got the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award. In 2022, she received the Rainwater Prize for Innovation in Neurodegeneration. In 2023, she was the first woman to win the Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize for Neurodegenerative disease research. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Research on Brain Diseases

Dr. Goate's main research looks at the genes involved in Alzheimer's disease. She also studies other related forms of dementia. Her work has helped scientists create special models to study these diseases. These models include animal and cellular models.

Her research has also led to new ways to treat these conditions. She has helped develop therapies that target specific proteins. These proteins are called amyloid and tau. Dr. Goate has led many research projects. She has also helped create and receive six patents for her discoveries.

Important Patents

• APP770 mutant in Alzheimer's disease (1999).
• Mutant S182 genes (1999).
• Method for finding gene variations using intronic sequences of the Alzheimer's S182 gene (2000).
• Transgenic mouse with an APP-FAD DNA sequence (2001).
• Pathogenic Tau mutations (2002).