Present: Combating memory loss

Prof. John A. Hardy is the Head of the Department of Molecular Neuroscience and Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at the University College London Institute of Neurology.

He was the first to discover a mutation in the amyloid gene encoding the amyloid precursor protein (APP) which plays a key role in neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

His research interests are in the genetic analysis of disease. He has worked on the genetic analysis of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia and, more recently, on Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders as well as motor neuron disease.

Hardy’s early studies were on Mendelian forms of disease and these studies continue, but he has increasingly focused on the genetic analysis of complex traits related to disease. Additionally, this latter analysis has sparked growing interest in population genetics because the risk variants for human traits are likely to be different in different racial groups. In all cases, the aim is to understand the underlying genetics of a disorder in order to explain the disease mechanisms and advance the search for treatment.

Among his honors and awards are the Peter Debje Prize, University of Limburg, Belgium, for Alzheimer’s Research in 1991. The IPSEN Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s disease in 1992. The Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, for Alzheimer’s Research in 1993. The Allied Signal Prize for Research into Aging and the MetLife Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s disease in 1995. The Kaul Prize for Research into Alzheimer’s disease in 2002 and the Anne Marie Oprecht International Prize for research in Parkinson’s disease in 2008. He is a member of the academy of Medical Sciences and of the Royal Society of London. He was awarded the Khalid Iqbal Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010 and the IFRAD Prize for Alzheimer’s Research in 2011.