
Kurt R. Brunden, PhD
Research Professor of Pathology and Laboratory MedicinePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Contact InformationCenter for Neurodegenerative Disease Research
University of Pennsylvania
3600 Spruce St.
3rd Floor Maloney Bldg.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-615-5262
Email: kbrunden@upenn.edu
Specialty Division
Immunobiology and Experimental Pathology
Research Expertise
Dr. Brunden oversees research programs directed towards the identification of therapeutic targets and treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Itmat Expertise
Dr. Brunden oversees research programs directed towards the identification of therapeutic targets and treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Education
B.S. (Biology/Health Chemistry), Western Michigan University, 1980
Ph.D. (Biochemistry), Purdue University, 1985
Specialty Certification
Postgraduate Training
Post-docotoral fellow, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, 1985-1987
Instructor and Research Assoc., Mayo Clinic and Foundation, 1988-1988
Awards and Honors
Merck Award; Department of Chemistry; Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 1980
Graduated Magna Cum Laude; 1980; Western Michigan University; Kalamazoo, MI, 1980
N.I.H. Competitive Predoctoral Training Award; Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 1981-1984
Outstanding Research Award; Department of Neurology; Mayo Clinic,
Rochester, MN, 1987
Travel Award; American Society for Neurochemistry, 1988
Memberships and Professional Organizations
Society for Neuroscience, 1991 - Present
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992 - 2008
American Chemical Society, 2005 - 2008
NIH NINDS NSD-C Study Section, 2009 - 2016
Scientific Review Board, Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery Foundation, 2010 - Present
NIH-NCATS Therapeutics Discovery Special Emphasis Panel, 2012 - 2012
Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, 2013 - Present
NIH NINDS NSD-A Study Section, 2014 - 2014
NIH NIA U01 Drug Development Study Section, 2015 - Present
NIH NINDS Epilepsy CWOW Study Section, 2015 - 2015
NIH NIA U01 Drug Development Study Section, 2015 - 2016
NIH NINDS NSD-B Study Section, 2017 - 2018
Advisory Board, Modeling Alliance for Systems Pharmacology in Tauopathies; Cohen Veterens Bioscience, 2017 - 2019
NIH NINDS CWOW and ADRD Special Emphasis Panel, 2018 - 2018
NIH NIA Alzheimer Centers for Discovery of New Drugs Special Emphasis Panel, 2019 - 2019
Selected Publications
Congeners derived from microtubule-active phenylpyrimidines produce a potent and long-lasting paralysis in Schistosoma mansoni in vitro
Monti L, Cornec A-S, Oukoloff K, Kovalevich J, Prijs K, Alle A, Brunden KR, Smith AB III, El-Sakkary N, Liu LJ, Syed A, Skinner DE, Ballatore C and Caffarey CR, ACS Infectious Dis. 7(): 1089, 2021
Effects of microglial depletion and TREM2 deficiency on Aβ plaque burden and neuritic plaque tau pathology in 5XFAD mice
Delizannis AT, Nonneman A, Tsering W, De Bondt A, Van den Wyngaert I, Zhang B, Meymand E, Olufemi MF, Koivula P, Maimaiti S, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM and Brunden KR, Acta Neuropathol. Comm. 9(): 150, 2021
In vitro amplification of pathogenic tau conserved disease-specific bioactive characteristics
Xu H, O’Reilly M, Gibbons GS, Changolkar L, McBride JD, Riddle DM, Zhang B, Stieber A, Nirschl J, Kim S-J, Hoxha, K-H, Brunden KR, Schellenberg GD, Trojanowski JQ and Lee YM-Y, Acta Neuropathol. 141(): 193, 2021
Evaluation of structure-activity relationship of microtubule (MT)-targeting 1,2,4-Triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines identifies new candidates for neurodegenerative tauopathies
Oukoloff K, Nzou G, Varricchio C, Lucero B, Alle T, Kovalevich J, Monti L, Cornec A-S, Yao Y, James MJ, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM-Y, Smith AB III, Brancale A, Brunden KR* and Ballatore C, J. Med. Chem. 64(): 1073, 2021
Distinct characteristics of limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 enchephalopathy in Lewy body disease.
Uemura MT, Robinson JL, Cousins KAQ, Tropea TF, Kargilis DC, McBride JD, Suh E, Xie SX, Xu Y, Porta S, Uemura N, Van Deerlin VM, Wolk DA, Irwin DJ, Brunden KR, Lee VM-Y, Lee EB and Trojanowski JQ, Acta Neuropathologica 143(): 15-31, 2021
Characterization of novel conformation-selective α-synuclein antibodies as potential immunotherapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease
MX Henderson, DJ Covell, C Hiu-Yan Chung, RM Pitkin, RM Sandler, SC Decker, DM Riddle, B Zhang, RJ Gathagan, MJ James, JQ Trojanowski, KR Brunden, VMY Lee, KC Luk, Neurobiology of Disease 136(): , 2020
Characterization of tau binding by gosuranemab
Sopko R, Golonzhka O, Arndt J, Quan C, Czerkowicz J, Cameron A, Smith B, Murugesan Y, Gibbons G, Kim S-J, Brunden KR, Weinreb PH, Graham DL, and Hering H, Neurobiol. Dis. 146(): 105120, 2020
Conformation-selective tau monoclonal antibodies inhibit tau pathology in primary neurons and a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
Gibbons G, Kim S-J, Wu Q, Riddle DM, Leight SN, Changolkar L, Xu H, Meymand ES, O’Reilly M, Zhang B, Brunden KR, Trojanowski JQ and Lee VM-Y, Mol. Neurodegeneratin 15(): 64, 2020
Correction of microtubule defects within Aβ plaque-associated dystrophic axons results in lowered Aβ release and plaque deposition
Y Yao, G Nzou, T Alle, W Tsering, S Maimaiti, JQ Trojanowski, VM-Y Lee, C Ballatore and KR Brunden, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2020
Compound screening in cell-based models of tau inclusion formation: Comparison of primary neuron and HEK293 cell assays
A Crowe, MJ Henderson, J Anderson, SA Titus, A Zakharov , A Simeonov, A Buist, C Delay, D Moechars, JQ Trojanowski, VM-Y Lee, KR Brunden, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2020