Posted 22 January 2002

Five scientists were recognized at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in November 2001 for outstanding contributions to the Alzheimer Research Forum web site. The awards singled out individuals who volunteered significant effort in creating scientific content for the benefit of the research community. "Our mission is to create a web resource that will speed the dissemination of data and ideas, and create an online scientific community that can work more effectively towards finding cures for this terrible disease," says June Kinoshita, founder and Executive Editor of the web site. "We depend on scientists for much of our cutting-edge content, and we think the community should recognize the immensely valuable service that has been provided to them by our award winners."

The Outstanding Contributor Award was presented to Richard Crook of Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, who compiled the complete list of mutations in amyloid-beta precursor protein, presenilin-1, presenilin-2. In addition to gathering all published mutations and primary references, he created diagrams of both genes depicting all of the mutations. The presenilin mutation directories are the most comprehensive and up-to-date list available in the world, and as such, rapidly established themselves as the standard reference for other researchers. John Hardy, also of Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, received a Merit Award for co-authoring with Richard Crook the presenilin and APP mutation directories.

The Innovation Award was presented to Keith Crutcher of the University of Cincinnati for his abstract, "The Role Of ApoE Neurotoxicity In Alzheimer's Neuropathology." The work was cited for its iconoclastic hypothesis of a toxic role by the E4 allele. Since the publication of the abstract, data has been reported by other researchers to support this idea. The award also cited the importance of the hypothesis in opening up avenues of investigation that could lead to entirely novel drug targets. The Innovation Award is accompanied by a $5,000 travel grant.

Ben Wolozin of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Jennifer Kwon of the University of Washington, St. Louis, also receive Merit Awards. Dr. Wolozin received the award for his timely commentaries on a wide range of topics, most recently on alpha-synuclein and transgenic models. Dr. Kwon was recognized for her role in creating the Tau Mutation Directory. The directory compiles data on all known FTDP-17 mutations and allows for comparative analysis of the biochemical effects, clinical and pathological phenotypes associated with each mutation.