Leissring Lab

Dr. Leissring began his research career at UC Berkeley in 1988 investigating fundamental mechanisms of learning and memory formation. After receiving a Masters degree from San Francisco State University, Dr. Leissring sought to apply this knowledge to Alzheimer’s disease, the leading memory disorder in humans. To that end, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Frank LaFerla at UC Irvine, who has developed one of the most successful and widely studied Alzheimer’s mouse models in use today.

After earning his Ph.D. from UC Irvine, Dr. Leissring conducted his post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Dennis Selkoe at Harvard Medical School, a world-renowned Alzheimer’s disease researcher. In Dr. Selkoe’s laboratory, Dr. Leissring demonstrated that Alzheimer’s disease could be completely prevented in mice by activating of a special class of enzymes that can break down the beta-amyloid peptide, the primary constituent of the plaques that litter the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This novel finding has unveiled a host of novel drug targets that his lab is currently pursuing.

Following a brief tenure at The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Dr. Leissring moved to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, one of world’s leading institutes investigating Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. This move has given Dr. Leissring's lab invaluable access to human tissue samples, genetic data, and animal models that will accelerate his goal of developing novel therapies.