Two Scientists Honored with MetLife Foundation Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer...( WASHINGTON Feb. 18 -- The winners of...),Health

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The winners of the MetLife Foundation Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease will be announced in Washington, D.C. today, at a scientific briefing and luncheon that honors two scientists whose groundbreaking research has led to significant understanding of Alzheimer's and the substances in the brain that play an important role in the disease. The awardees are Michael S. Wolfe, Ph.D., professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Takeshi Iwatsubo, M.D., professor in the Department of Neuropathology in the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo.

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Dr. Wolfe is being honored for his research on the production of amyloid-beta, a small protein found in the Alzheimer's brain now believed to be the fundamental toxic entity initiating the disease, which has led to the development of new therapies for Alzheimer's. Dr. Iwatsubo is being honored for his work on the histopathology and protein biochemistry of postmortem human brains with Alzheimer's, which has led to the establishment of cellular and genetic models that help explain the key steps in the pathological cascade of neurodegeneration.

Since 1986, MetLife Foundation has granted major awards to scientists who have demonstrated significant contributions to the understanding of Alzheimer's disease. The heart of the program is a recognition of the im
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