AAN honors three researchers with 2011 Potamkin Prize for dementia study

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is awarding its 2011 Potamkin Prize to three researchers for their work in dementia. Dennis Dickson, MD, with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, Eva Maria Mandelkow, MD, PhD, and Eckhard Mandelkow, PhD, both of the Max-Planck-Unit for Structural Molecular Biology in Hamburg, Germany, will receive the Award during the AAN's 63rd Annual Meeting in Hawaii, April 9 - 16, 2011. The AAN Annual Meeting is the world's largest gathering of neurologists with more than 2,500 presentations made on the latest avances in neurologic research.

The Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's, and Related Diseases honors researchers for their work in helping to advance the understanding of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. The $100,000 prize is to be used toward continuing dementia research and will be shared evenly between the three researchers.

Dickson, a member of the American Academy of Neurology, is receiving the Potamkin Prize for his research involving Tau, a brain protein that is abnormal in a number of different neurodegenerative disorders, including Pick's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"Neuropathology is the science that underpins all other brain sciences in that it describes the changes in the brain related to the underlying disease process," said Dickson. "Understanding the neuropathology of dementias is the first step towards developing better methods to diagnose, treat and eventually prevent these disorders."

Eva Maria Mandelkow and Eckhard Mandelkow received the Potamkin Prize for their research discoveries in mouse trials that shed new light on the reasons why Tau protein can act as a toxic agent in the development of several dementias. "The Potamkin Award is a great honor for our entire team, which is striving to develop methods for reversing or preventing memory impairment," said the researchers.

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's single largest individual donor since 1988, providing more than $2 million to fund the Potamkin Prize.