Educating future pathologists
Dr. Dickson teaches neuroanatomy, showing future pathologists how to perform brain autopsies.
Projects
Research in the Neuropathology and Microscopy Lab is targeting breakthroughs in understanding neurological diseases. Families affected by these neurological disorders make this research possible through brain bank donations.
The Mayo Clinic Brain Bank has more than 11,000 specimens. It provides a special resource for investigators engaged in ongoing studies at Mayo Clinic and around the world.
Projects include:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal degeneration with TDP-43 pathology
The lab's neuropathologic research focuses on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and frontotemporal degeneration with TDP-43 pathology. The lab also studies transgenic mice that model Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders as part of its efforts to better understand these disorders and develop new treatments.
Einstein Aging Study
The Neuropathology and Microscopy Lab contributes to the Brain Bank Program as part of the Einstein Aging Study.
Disorders in tau pathology
Dr. Dickson has studied disorders with tau pathology in collaboration with Shu-Hui C. Yen, Ph.D., a colleague on Mayo Clinic's Florida campus, for more than two decades.
The major tauopathies that they study are:
- Corticobasal degeneration.
- Progressive supranuclear palsy.
- Pick's disease.
- Frontotemporal dementia linked to tau mutations.
Many such cases are obtained through the CurePSP Brain Bank on Mayo Clinic's Florida campus that Dr. Dickson supervises.
Genetic studies
These studies comprise an increasingly important aspect of neuropathologic research as new genes and genetic risk factors are discovered for Alzheimer's disease and other major neurodegenerative disorders.
Mayo Clinic collaborators perform genetic studies on brain-derived DNA. These collaborators include:
Investigators at other institutions also perform studies.