Bluefield Research Consortium
We fund discovery, translational and clinical research at leading academic institutions. Research proposals are solicited by invitation only. Our funded investigators are highly collaborative and gather in person twice a year to share pre-publication data. We foster close, synergistic relationships between discovery scientists and clinical neurologists to shorten the path from bench to treatment.
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Boxer co-directs the ARTFL/LEFFTDs rare diseases clinical research network, which conducts clinical research in sporadic and familial FTD. The Boxer Lab studies fluid biomarkers with the ultimate goal of validating them for use in clinical trials. Dr. Boxer also directs the Alzheimer’s and FTD Clinical Trials program at UCSF and works closely with discovery scientists to speed promising therapeutic approaches into the clinic.
Robert Farese, Jr., MD
Harvard University
The Farese and Walther Lab generated mice with mutations in the progranulin gene and use them to study progranulin’s function in the lysosome. Lab members also study progranulin’s role in lipid metabolism and unconventional protein secretion.
Shawn Ferguson, PhD
Yale University
The Ferguson Lab studies fundamental cell biological questions regulated to progranulin production, intracellular trafficking and function in lysosomes.
Li Gan, PhD
Gladstone Institutes
The Gan Lab investigates translational approaches to enhance progranulin levels, particularly in microglia.
Stephen Haggarty, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Haggarty’s group investigates the regulation of progranulin expression by histone deacetylases. Lab members are also evaluating other mechanisms of epigenetic regulation and their contributions to FTD.
Joachim Herz, MD
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
The Herz Lab studies the biochemical and cell biological mechanisms through which progranulin enhancing drugs act on the progranulin gene.
Fenghua Hu, PhD
Cornell University
The Hu Lab studies progranulin trafficking and processing in microglia.
Eric Huang, MD, PhD
University of California, San Francisco
The Huang lab investigates how glial activation contributes to neurodegeneration, with a focus on autophagy-dependent lysosomal functions.
Thomas Kukar, PhD
Emory University
The Kukar Lab investigates progranulin processing and the function of granulins in the lysosome.
Suzee Lee, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Drs. Lee and Seeley are developing imaging biomarkers for detecting and monitoring disease progression in progranulin mutation carriers.
Bruce Miller, MD
University of California, San Francisco, Memory and Aging Center
Dr. Miller oversees the development of a cohort of familial and sporadic frontotemporal dementia cases and cell lines for longitudinal clinical, imaging, mRNA expression and proteomics studies.
Andrew Nguyen, PhD
Saint Louis University
The Nguyen Lab studies translational approaches to increasing progranulin, including upregulation by antisense oligonucleotides.
Rosa Rademakers, PhD
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville
The Rademakers Lab uses cellular and mouse models to study TMEM106B, the strongest genetic risk/protective factor in patients with GRN mutations.
Erik Roberson, MD, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Roberson Lab studies gene therapy as a therapeutic approach to prevent or reverse behavioral deficits, lysosomal dysfunction, and neuropathology due to progranulin insufficiency.
William Seeley, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Drs. Seeley and Lee are developing imaging biomarkers for detecting and monitoring disease progression in progranulin mutation carriers.
In addition, Dr. Seeley, together with Dr. Bruce Miller, runs the CFR Clinical Core, which provides a tissue bank and research database that supports quantitative and region-specific cellular, molecular and genetic frontotemporal dementia investigations.
John van Swieten, MD, PhD
Erasmus Medical Center
Dr. van Swieten’s group studies fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers to identify those that predict conversion into symptomatic stage and disease progression rate.
Tobias Walther, PhD
Harvard University
The Farese and Walther Lab generated mice with mutations in the progranulin gene and use them to study progranulin’s function in the lysosome. Lab members also study progranulin’s role in lipid metabolism and unconventional protein secretion.
