Five Rutgers Professors Named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

M. Maral Mouradian

William Dow Lovett Endowed Chair for Parkinson's Research and Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Director, RWJMS Institute for Neurological Therapeutics; Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development, Rutgers Health

For advancements in the field of molecular and translational neuroscience, particularly for elucidating how age-related neurodegenerative diseases originate and develop and identifying novel therapeutic targets and agents

M. Maral Mouradian was always fascinated by the inner workings of the brain and later, as a young medical student, she became interested in pharmacology.

"I still remember the chapters in the classic pharmacology textbook by Goodman and Gilman in medical school," she quipped, referring to the go-to resource in the field.

The combination of those interests led her to Parkinson's disease for two reasons: It was the only neurodegenerative disorder for which there was an effective symptomatic treatment, but that treatment, L-dopa, had unacceptable complications. Mouradian thought she could make an impactful difference on the disease. She was right.

L-dopa is still the gold standard treatment of Parkinson's to manage the tremors and slow movements. But Mouradian's early work showed that the long-term use of this medication taken multiple times a day is not an optimal approach leading to changes in the brain that translate to an unstable benefit from the drug. Patients' symptoms would return between doses, and more importantly, they would develop involuntary movements over time.

She discovered that if the patient took L-dopa continuously, instead of intermittently, it would normalize the way the brain responds to the drug and yield a smoother benefit throughout the day. Continuous delivery formulations of Parkinson drugs are now widely available to patients.

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease that affects as many as 1 million Americans and is characterized by tremors, slow movements, and a shuffling gait, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. There is no cure.

Mouradian has since focused her attention on finding treatments that change the course of the disease to slow down, stop the progression or even prevent the emergence of symptoms.

To that end, she has made a series of fundamental discoveries about the key pathogenic protein alpha-synuclein, which accumulates in abnormal forms in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease. She has shown how this protein is cleared from cells, how its elevated levels are damaging to brain cells, and what factors lead to its assuming abnormal structures and causing disease. This multi-faceted body of work has identified several druggable targets, for which Mouradian has identified a series of compounds that she is currently testing. Her aim is to find a disease-modifying treatment.

Mouradian is also passionate about training the next generation of neuroscientists equipped to tackle currently incurable diseases. She directs the Training in Translating Neuroscience to Therapiesprogram, funded by the National Institutes of Health, designed to give laboratory-based researchers, including graduate students, MD/PhD and postdoctoral fellows the knowledge and experience to take their discoveries at the bench to the clinic. It is one of only six such programs that NIH currently funds, she said.

"The fact that my early work actually resulted in improved therapies available on the market and people are benefiting from them is very rewarding," she said.

- Roya Rafei

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.