NATICK, Mass., Dec. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Luciole Pharmaceuticals, Inc is pleased to announce that Serge Przedborski, MD, Ph.D., is joining the company's scientific advisory board.
Dr. Przedborski, is the Page and William Black Professor of Neurology (in Pathology and Cell Biology and Neuroscience) at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and:
- Co-Director, Motor Neuron Center
- Vice Chair of Research, Department of Neurology
- Director, Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative (CTNI)
- Chief, Division of Movement Disorders
Dr. Przedborski has been a Senior Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience and an Associate Editor of Movement Disorders and is a current reviewing editor of eLife. He also serves as an ad hoc Reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, the Canadian Medical Research Council, and various medical journals including Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA.
His ongoing research aims to understand mechanisms of neurodegeneration using both toxic and genetic experimental models of Parkinson's disease (PD) and ALS. In keeping with this goal, research within the Przedborski laboratory focuses on mitochondrial biology, and how functional alterations of mitochondrial maintenance processes provoke degeneration of specific subpopulations of neurons.
"Oxidative stress and inflammation are key components in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. The accumulation of oxidative lesions in mitochondrial DNA induces mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation, leading to cell death," said Dr. Przedborski. "Enhancing the repair of oxidative damage offers an novel approach to treating these diseases."
"Dr. Przedborski has the ideal combination of clinical and basic research interests and experience to support Luciole's goals of developing novel therapeutics targeting mitochondrial DNA to prevent the progression of devastating neurodegenerative diseases, like PD. We are very excited to have him join us on our mission" said Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., President and CEO of Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
About Luciole Pharmaceuticals
Luciole Pharmaceuticals is a startup biotech company developing novel therapeutics to repair damaged mtDNA, a critical aspect of the aging process. Mitochondria provide all mammalian cells with energy, which is essential to healthy tissues and longevity. A natural by-product of this function is the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is physically tethered to the primary site of ROS generation. Oxidative damage to mtDNA is an inexorable aspect of human aging, causing mitochondrial dysfunction, mtDNA breakdown, activation of the innate immune system -- and ultimately cell death. Luciole is the first company to focus on enhancing the repair of oxidatively damaged mtDNA.
Luciole's technology, targeting the discovery and development of small molecule agonists of OGG1 (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase), the key enzyme in initiation of base excision repair (BER) of both nuclear and mtDNA is based on the cutting-edge work of Dr. Rumsey, Luciole's co-founder, in collaboration with Vilhelm Bohr, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Laboratory on Molecular Gerontology at the National Institute on Aging, and of co-founders, R. Stephen Lloyd and Amanda K. McCullough at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Luciole was formed as a spinout from OHSU with exclusive, worldwide license to commercialize proprietary small molecule OGG1 activators based on the Lloyd/McCullough compounds. For further information, visit www.luciolepharma.com.
Luciole Investor Contact:
Dennis Goldberg, Ph.D. | dgoldberg@luciolepharma.com
Donald Dye | ddye@castlehillcap.com
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SOURCE Luciole Pharmaceuticals
