Prof Karen Duff

Ph.D (Cantab), FMedSci (She/Her)

Centre Director

Revealing the molecular causes and consequences of tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia

Condition

Alzheimer's disease, Frontotemporal dementia

Topics

Genetics, Cell biology of neurons & glia, Biomarkers & diagnostics, Ageing, Molecular mechanisms

Techniques

CRISPR, Mouse in vivo imaging, Experimental medicine, Stem cells / iPSCs, Electrophysiology, Fluid biomarkers, Mouse behaviour, Advanced microscopy & imaging, Advanced spectroscopy, Bioinformatics, Biophysical techniques, Drug screening, Flow cytometry, Genomics, Mass spec-based proteomics, Single cell / nucleus transcriptomics, Spatial transcriptomics

Biography

Prof Karen Duff is a leader in the field of neurodegenerative disease having first started her career as a PhD student in the Cambridge department of Nobel Prize winner Sydney Brenner. Prof Duff has worked for over 30 years on Alzheimer’s disease and the tauopathies, for which she was awarded the prestigious Potamkin Prize in 2006. Her interests span a range of research areas, from discovery science through to therapeutic approaches. Over her career she has created several important mouse models for AD and FTD-tau and she has studied several disease-associated molecular mechanisms using innovative and state of the art methods. Her most recent interests include the causes and consequences of tau pathology propagation, and the basis of selective cellular vulnerability. Prof Duff recently left Columbia University in New York and has joined the UK DRI at UCL as Centre Director, leading a dynamic and ambitious programme of multidisciplinary and clinically-orientated research.

Honours & awards

2024 - Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, University of East Anglia

2022 - Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences

2020 - Outstanding Contribution to Neuroscience Prize, British Neuroscience Association

2006 - Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Disease Research * top award in AD field

2001 - OMH Research Award for Excellence in Research

2000 - FEBS award for Outstanding Contribution to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2000 - Weill award, American Association of Neuropathologists

News

Research interest

  1. exploring the mechanisms involved in the spread of pathogenic proteins within the brain
  2. understanding the basis of selective cellular vulnerability and resilience to tauopathy
  3. developing new mouse and cell models to understand the earliest stages in tau pathogenesis

Key publications

Cell reports methods
Published

Human MAPT knockin mouse models of frontotemporal dementia for the neurodegenerative research community

Authors
Takahiro Morito, Mohan Qi, Naoko Kamano, Hiroki Sasaguri, Sumi Bez, Martha Foiani, Karen Duff, Seico Benner, Toshihiro Endo, Hiroshi Hama, Hiroshi Kurokawa, Atushi Miyawaki, Hiroshi Mizuma, Naruhiko Sahara, Masafumi Shimojo, Makoto Higuchi, Takaomi C Saido, Naoto Watamura
Human MAPT knockin mouse models of frontotemporal dementia for the neurodegenerative research community
PLoS One
Published

Trans-synaptic spread of tau pathology in vivo.

Authors
Li Liu, Valerie Drouet, Jessica W Wu, Menno P Witter, Scott A Small, Catherine Clelland, Karen Duff
Trans-synaptic spread of tau pathology in vivo.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Published

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 by lithium correlates with reduced tauopathy and degeneration in vivo.

Authors
Wendy Noble, Emmanuel Planel, Cindy Zehr, Vicki Olm, Jordana Meyerson, Farhana Suleman, Kate Gaynor, Lili Wang, John LaFrancois, Boris Feinstein, Mark Burns, Pavan Krishnamurthy, Yi Wen, Ratan Bhat, Jada Lewis, Dennis Dickson, Karen Duff
Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 by lithium correlates with reduced tauopathy and degeneration in vivo.

Duff Lab

Explore the work of the Duff Lab, revealing the molecular causes and consequences of tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia

Duff Lab
Microglia and astrocytes around amyloid plaque