Dr. Cesare Patrone (Ph.D., 1998, Italy) had his disputation at the Pharmacological Department, Milano University, in the field of neuro-endrocrinology focusing his studies on the effect of insulin and estrogen receptors on neuronal differentiation. He continued his research in neuroscience as a post-doc at the Uppsala University, Department of Neuroscience (1998-2000). Following a second post-doc at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medical Nutrition (2000-2002), he joined Neuronova AB, a biotechnology company focusing on developing therapeutics stimulating adult neurogenesis for the treatment of brain diseases (2002-2008). At Neuronova AB, Dr. Patrone has been involved in several projects in drug discovery and in development as well as in their translation to from preclinical development to the clinical setting. In 2009, he joined the Diabetes Group leaded by Professor Åke Sjöholm at the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institutet at Södersjukhuset in 2009 where he is in charge of the Neuro Division. Short description of Cesare Patrone's research Diabetes is widespread and represents the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. About 97 % of the medical and social costs associated with diabetes are dominated by care for macrovascular complications such as stroke. Stroke affects several million people worldwide, of which a substantial proportion of cases present in patients suffering from diabetes. The relationship between diabetes and stroke is just beginning to be understood - antidiabetic drugs have been suggested to have a protective effect in stroke patients and ideally new treatment strategies for diabetes could be designed with an offshoot effect of reducing the risk of stroke. Recent data suggest just such a role for the glucagone-like receptor 1 (GLP-1R) agonists. These drugs have been shown to be neuroprotective and to stimulate adult neural stem cells. Cesare Patrone is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing work in the area of experimental neurobiology in diabetes. This comprises in vitro assays on adult neural stem cells from normal and diabetic rodents aiming at the identification of the molecular mechanisms involved in stroke-induced adult neurogenesis in diabetes. The position also involves establishing in vivo models of experimental stroke in normal and diabetic rodents. |  |
