Gilbert
Gallardo

Dr. Gallardo received his Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas C. Südhof, where his thesis focused on a-synuclein, a presynaptic protein involved in Parkinson’s disease. His studies demonstrated that a-synuclein-induced neurodegeneration involved the apolipoprotein E protein, which plays a central role in the pathological mechanisms implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting parallels in the pathogenesis of these degenerative diseases. Dr. Gallardo then completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where he discovered that the ion pump a2-Na/K ATPase is enriched in astrocytes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. An in-depth biochemical and molecular characterization revealed that chronic activation of the a2-Na/K ATPase mediates non-cell-autonomous motor neuron neurodegeneration in an ALS mouse model. Upon receiving an NIH-K01 Career Development Award, he was appointed an Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in the Department of Neurology in 2017. His laboratory focuses on understanding the cellular and metabolic mechanisms that regulate reactive astrocytes and their contributions to neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular models of inflammation, and mouse models of AD pathologies. In addition, the laboratory aims to develop therapeutic approaches that combine immunotherapies, chimeric approaches, and gene therapy to target the degradation of intracellular and extracellular therapeutic targets in AD and related neurodegenerative diseases.