Gregory Cole, Ph.D.

UCLA/VA

Contact Information

Gregory Cole, Ph.D.
Santa Monica, United States

Professional Information

Professor
UCLA/VA

Education

UC Berkeley Physics/ Biochemistry BA UC Berkeley Physio-Anat PhD UCSD Neuroscience Postdoc Alzheimer's

Bio

Dr. Greg M. Cole is Professor of Neurology and Medicine at UCLA, Associate Director of the Mary Easton Alzheimer's Center and Basic Research at the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Greater LA VA and Geriatrics Division, Dept Medicien UCLA. After receiving undergraduate degrees in Physics and Biochemistry from UC Berkeley and working at Harvard Medical School, he returned to Berkeley for a doctoral program on Alzheimer's and aging with Dr Paola Timiras before moving to study with Dr. Tsunao Saitoh at UCSD’s Alzheimer Center. He is a recipient of the Zenith Award and the Cherkin Award for Research on Brain Aging.
Dr Cole worked with Dr. K. Hsiao to develop the first successful academic transgenic mouse model for AD. Based in part on a series of screens in pre-clinical models from his group, four compounds, ibuprofen, R-flurbiprofen, curcumin and DHA advanced to clinical trials for AD. His recent papers investigate the potential for AD prevention with omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, docosahexaenoic acid from fish) and its role in preventing amyloid formation and abeta toxicity and prevention of insulin/neurotrophic factor resistance. His lab is also exploring the efficacy of the curry spice extract, curcumin, to control inflammation and oxidative damage and to act directly on insoluble amyloid fibrils in plaques and more soluble toxic abeta and tau species in vitro and in vivo. Dr. Cole and his colleague Dr. Sally Frautschy, have developed a much more bioavailable formulation of curcumin that is in current and planned clinical trials for both Alzheimer’s and cancer They are currently evaluating agents from a variety of sources including the Easton Drug Discovery Program using multiple animal models for Alzheimer’s disease. The primary goal of his lab is to develop safe and widely available methods for the prevention of Alzheimer's and possibly other degenerative diseases of aging.